1917 Artillery at SimpsonLtd

[alvin]

Originally Posted by Sieger

unless it has a mint bore

Probably for Artillery Luger, requiring that is not too luxury. Not sure Luger's situation, but many Red 9 Mauser come with mint bore. When many collectible samples of a specific variation have mint bore, requiring a mint bore on that variation is not unrealistic. Especially when considerable amount of $$ is paid.

So, return to the bottom of this, it is still related with how hard it comes, and its relative position in the group of the same variation (top, upper, middle, lower),,, and, on collectors side -- current collection structure, current financial situation, etc. There are many non-linear factors. So, again and again, we saw top pistols go crazy in auctions, that's typical non-linear behavior.

[sheepherder]

BTW, there is another factor in collecting, whether guns or anything with a 'serial'.

There are those who collect only certain serials. True! Rich person of course, but with Lugers, there is more chance of getting great shape serialized item than with say a motorcycle.

Back in 1998, I owned a rare Harley-Davidson motorcycle. I knew it was rare and collectible so I advertised it in Hemmings. I got a half-dozen calls from that ad, one guy wanted rare color combination, but weirdest was guy wanting certain serial number. I was wary, but he rattled off the number he was looking for, and mine was not it. He went on to explain that he collected one of each model Harley but only with that serial number...Weird, but true collectors are weird...

(He gave me his name, and it wasn't Jay Leno)...

[alvin]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

There are those who collect only certain serials. True!

Sounds like those rich in Hong Kong collecting car plates... regular people cannot care less on that aluminum plate, let alone the numbers on them. But who could expect there were bidders paying big money on those plates with certain number in auctions... weird enough, but that's on newspaper.