1940/42 Luger on Gunbroker

[bill m]

Look at Item #1140098 -- described as a 1940 Code S/42, but is really a 1940 code 42 -- and tell me what I am missing on this gun. It is at $1625 and it is just a plain, common 1940/42 without any matching magazines, with a tool and holster. It doesn't look in outstanding condition either. What am I missing guys?

[DAVID]

Even Simpson wasn't that high.

[Ted]

A sucker born every minute! 1940/42 is one of the most common Mauser Military Variation too! Lets see if he finds a sucker!

The bidders on that pistol obviously don't know about this place. I had some bids on that pistol until it went over $1150 and even then I was worried that even that was too high.

Now it's just plain rediculous.


Auctions are like that. Some people forget about value and just want to win, no matter the cost.


Mike

[BILL]

Absolutely! There is an atmosphere about winning regardless of the price. No one would start out that high but once they know that they have overbid what's a few dollars more? (and then, when someone matches them, what's a few dollars more..etc.). I firmly believe that auctions are weighted in the seller's favor.

[dm]

There is something that bothers me about the frequent skyrocketing of auction bids. An occassional brain aneurism or drug-induced mistake could result in an unusually high bid, but I have a difficult time imaging that the mere experience of looking at a picture of an object on a screen and the ticking clock causes people to frequently buy things at far more than their value elsewhere. For unique items, excursions of 100% can be understood as the value is impossible to validate for one-of-a-kind. For common items, such as 1940 lugers in worn shape or luger holsters in VG etc, frequent high valuation either means actual value is much much higher than collectors believe or there is something odd happening.


Are there that many silly bidders such that a substantial percentage of auctions of common collectibles are won at 50% or more of the normal price? Is there another explanation? Is it related to the casino phenomenon?




dm

[Matt]

I agree Mike. With auctions, some people just want to win. At a local auction I went to several years ago, the high bids on boxes of shotguns shells were more than what they cost at Wal-Mart.

Unfamiliarity with the item at auction surely causes some over-bidding. That Pistol here referred to sold for over $1700.

Who pays that much for such an item?

My best guess, especially since the winning bidder only bid once, is that someone saw the action on this auction and, not knowing any better, thought a rare a valuable item was for sale.

The other bidders seemed to be caught up in the "IT'S MINE" mindset.


Mike

Another thing I've been noticing about the auctions is the very high prices on P38s. Sellers all seem to think that any beater P38 is worth $600. This pricing even carries over to beat up mismatched Mauser 98ks, that now all seem to be worth $400 up to sellers and even worse, buyers.

Is there some kind of renewed interest and a new very high demand for German WWII firearms?

Or is it that there are just a lot of uninformed new buyers out there that don't know what they are doing?


Mike