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The Blue Book Of Gun Values makes any dumb cluck into an expert...PAWN STARS...style.

So yes there are a lot of eyeballs on stuff. Stuff still shows up but now goes closer to retail at auction. For a dealer it is tougher, for a collector you just have to pay the freight. Gone are the days when you could find & buy a SW mdl 29 4 screw 8 3/8 in the wood case for $315.00. Today about 2100.

I think you are being a bit paranoid when you talk about markets being driven by the ubiquitous "Big Players" I have met or at least rubbed elbows with lots of guys at auctions with lots of money and guns. They do not seem so daunting to me. The money they have is not the determinant, it is what they like to collect and what they are willing to spend.

I was at the Little John auction where a phone bidder went 675K on Henry #6 that belonged to Secretary of the Navy Stanton...much later I asked John who bought it, he said a very wealthy individual that was buying the best stuff that he could buy. At the same auction a dealer I knew dropped 250K on a pair of Henry Derringer pocket pistols...later I asked him about them..He said he offered them to some of his clientele at 325K, where they balked..he did some research on them and found they were SoS Seward's pistols, he then turned them for 425K. His clients that turned them down then complained, "Why didn't you offer them to me."

What turned the antique or collectible firearms market was an article I believe in the WSJ back in 98 that said that firearms are a bonafide and a solid investment, much like art, antiques, autos, coins and stamps. Since then there has been a steady inflow of capital into the genre. Even during the crash in 08 collectible firearms withstood the onslaught, since then the inflow has accelerated as people seek a safe haven in hard assets when all else is fraught with risk or NO ROI.

So when I listen to you Boyz talk about this stuff I just have to shake my head and laugh.

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