I went to an auction out in Hillsboro that was mostly furniture and knick knacks, but had a few guns. What they finally sold for has me stumped.
One rifle was a beater Japanese WW2 surplus. $125. Seemed fair, maybe cheap.
One was a cleaner Japanese WW2 surplus with a clean chrysanthemum and the wire monopod. It was a clean nice complete sample with typical war bumps and scrapes. I was guessing $50, but it went for $225.
One was an 11mm Mauser, 187? era, complete and functional. I would also have put this one at $450 or so, but it might have been hampered by the hard to find caliber. It went for $225
Here's the doozy. There was a trapdoor springfield carbine, advertised "for parts" and boy were they right. It was a replica, had a plastic stock, the hinge pin was missing so the breechblock falls in your hand, the action looked and felt "cheezy", and the odd thing was it had an original old barrel and rear sight. I know the sight can sell for $30 or so on Ebay, but I was thinking this was a $25 rifle so I could get a couple springs and sear parts. It went for $450 or so. The odd thing was, the auctioneer started at $300 and at least 2 people were bidding, so it wasn't just one fool. By comparison, a quality reproduction in clean accurate condition is about $500.
I'm just stumped, and a little peeved at myself that I stopped bidding on the Mauser.
One rifle was a beater Japanese WW2 surplus. $125. Seemed fair, maybe cheap.
One was a cleaner Japanese WW2 surplus with a clean chrysanthemum and the wire monopod. It was a clean nice complete sample with typical war bumps and scrapes. I was guessing $50, but it went for $225.
One was an 11mm Mauser, 187? era, complete and functional. I would also have put this one at $450 or so, but it might have been hampered by the hard to find caliber. It went for $225
Here's the doozy. There was a trapdoor springfield carbine, advertised "for parts" and boy were they right. It was a replica, had a plastic stock, the hinge pin was missing so the breechblock falls in your hand, the action looked and felt "cheezy", and the odd thing was it had an original old barrel and rear sight. I know the sight can sell for $30 or so on Ebay, but I was thinking this was a $25 rifle so I could get a couple springs and sear parts. It went for $450 or so. The odd thing was, the auctioneer started at $300 and at least 2 people were bidding, so it wasn't just one fool. By comparison, a quality reproduction in clean accurate condition is about $500.
I'm just stumped, and a little peeved at myself that I stopped bidding on the Mauser.