Price of Lugers, 3 years ago, 10 years, 20 years...

[Frank H.]

I'm a late bloomer, though I'm 48 yrs old I've only just in the last 6 weeks started buying Lugers (can you say, "re-financed the house" LOL).

I'm playing catch-up here with what has been a life-long desire, to afford some great Lugers (and with any good luck my on-going actual business will allow me to keep acquiring nice examples).

I've been lurking a bit here and have read many great posts from all of you from over the recent year or so (and I was a member on the old forum as well, mostly just reading and learning).

Looking at Luger prices, re: "what the price was to get what you wanted", clearly we all either know or "have heard" that great Lugers used to be available for $100 or less, even for great collectible Lugers, going back enough years... But that was years gone by, and today is today.

Here's my question:

If one was to roughly size up the price levels on nice and attractive / collectible Lugers, how have the price levels gone, say from 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago, 2 years ago, and today?

I know some items in particular have "gone through the roof", but let's take say a 1900 AE in original very good condition, also for example a 1906 Navy, a 1936 in original condition, generally and roughly how has pricing gone, have there been big spikes or big downtrends at all in the prices one would have to pay looking through those years?

With that general span of years, say compared to what an average new car cost 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years or 3 years ago, has the price to acquire nice Lugers in general kind of followed that aspect of inflation so to speak, or were there "great grab them up years" within the last 20 years; how would you describe the pricing history?

Going out on a limb maybe, what do you see for the next 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, considering that we keep the "world turmoil" in line etc, what are your thoughts, past present and future re: pricing?

Frank H.

[Ron Smith]

Frank, I have bought and sold Lugers over the past 20 yrs. Mainly just as shooters. Just recently have seriously started to collect and study them. I paid $600.00 for a mint Black Widow about 8 yrs ago. I have owned 3 or 4 1920 .30 Commercials. I never paid more than $500.00 for one. Black Widows are now selling for 3 times that much, and the average price on a 1920 has doubled. Jan Still said that depending on variation.Lugers are doubling in value approximately every 5 to 10 yrs. I just recently lucked out on a 95% 1936 S/42, at $800.00. I have been told it is worth approx. twice what I paid. As I said, I'm just a novice myself. However, if I run across a nice example of nearly any variation in 85% or better, at a decent price. I'm finding the bucks to grab it.

Ron

[Lugerdoc]

Frank, It's been my observation that the price of standard military PO8s, double on average about every 10 years, or about 7 to 8% a year, but with some spikes like were are now experiencing on basic shooter PO8s. I purchased my first PO8 around 1960 for $39.95, which was about $80 to $100 by 1970, after the 1968 law banned mail order sales. So by 1980 you were looking at around $200 each; $400 by 1990 and $800 at today's prices. Of course rarer models have always sold for a premium. Tom

[Frank]

Just to add one more data point, my uncle told me that you could buy any Luger you wanted for $25, in Chicago, in the early 1950's. So the trend is still preserved!!

[Edward Tinker]

This has been said before and since I am so "young", I can't say with any authority... How much was an average worker making in 1950 per week, compared to how much an average person makes now. I bet $25 was a weeks wages...??

At one time I had listed a California price list from the 60's, that would be itneresting to compare prices against each other, or better yet, a listing like Ralphs over a 30 year time period... Maybe skipping every 2-3 years...

If anyone has a bunch of listings, I would be glad to scan them in, post them here on the forum and also send them back to you... This might be very interesting to read and see the prices go up?

Ed

[Dwight Gruber]

1950's $25 has a value of $181.55 in 2002. Here is a link to an online Inflation Calculator which allows you to determine prices adjusted for inflation to 2002. Tom's new HK which went for $8,050 would have cost $1108.49 in 1950, for instance.

This exercise has been carried out a couple of times on these Forums (can't find one right now), adjusted for inflation Luger prices have certainly gone up but not at the astronomical rate the raw figures would have one believe.

--Dwight

[unspellable]

In 1963 I bought a couple of mismatched 9 mm DWM shooters for $50 @ from a pawn shop in Texas. (Pawn shops are not noted for the lowest prices on guns.)

In 1964 the Ford Mustang was introduced at $2,495 base price. Look at car prices today. From my viewpoint a 1964 dime was worth today's dollar. There was a guy who had a service station in the North Detroit area who said, "In 1963 I sold gas for a quarter a gallon. Today I sell gas for a quarter a gallon, provided it's a 1963 quarter." (There's a lesson in there somewhere.)

[Navy]

There are "other factors" that can influence values dramatically. Among these are a spike in inflation and auction house results. The recent Rock Island auction set some new bench marks for Luger values, albeit on exceptionally fine and rare collector pieces. As an example, a mint Krieg with 2 matching mags under $11K is a bargain now. Ten years ago, the same gun would have been about $4500-5K.

And if you think iron prices are rising, check out fine condition leather...a Exc to Exc (+) Imperial Navy holster is going to start at $1100 and go up steeply.

Tom A.

Tom A.

[Lawdog67]

I asked a similar question about average prices just last week. Iâ??m still trying to get a feel for whatâ??s reasonable to pay, whatâ??s exorbitant, and what is â??too good to be true.â?� But the consensus does seem to be that prices are going up lately.

Has anyone considered that the mere proliferation of the internet is a main contributor? I canâ??t TELL you how many things I look up or can learn about now on a daily basis without even prying my butt from my chair. That includes information that I get from this site, and many others.

Remember ten years ago (some of you)â?¦ when very few people were â??onlineâ?� and if you found something good for sale online, chances are that almost no one else would see it too? Remember when if you wanted to learn about something, you had to hit the library or go buy some books or trade magazines? Those days are gone.

A few years ago, still, Ebay was a novelty and you could find real bargains there and on other online sites. But lately things seemed to have leveled out. Most items quickly establish a pattern, a higher â??going priceâ?� that wonâ??t be deviated from very much by the buying crowd. (At least not where collectible items are concerned.) There are a LOT more shoppers out there to compete with. The same seems true with other sites.

So, whether you collect Lugers or coins or Wizard of Oz trinkets, the potential number of other collectors has exploded to include anyone with some spare cash and the extra ten minutes to look for something online and place a bid. Suddenly there are almost no wonderful deals to be had.

Even non-auction buyers and learners are irreversibly impacted by this trend. I can surf for a while and find things for sale in classified ads wherever I want to look. I can cruise for estate sales in most large cities without ever getting out of my chair. And, frankly, I can read all these message boards and see other collectorsâ?? desire for certain items. Itâ??s got to be getting harder and harder to find sellers who wonâ??t have some idea what their old heirloom or war trophy is truly worth to a serious collector. So there are more potential buyers, AND sellers will be setting higher prices.

I donâ??t see how prices can help but go up in this environment. Unfortunately for me I waited too long to start learning about this topic! Maybe I can still get lucky if I keep lookingâ?¦ but thatâ??s what weâ??re all saying, isnâ??t it?

- David

[Edward Tinker]

And David, it might seem expensive today, but in 3-years, it'll probably seem like a good price!

Ed

[Balder]

You never pay too much - you just pay it too early. I see the same phenomenon occurring with other guns, just look at pre-1945 Thompson SMGs for one.

Balder