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Gun Collection Help

RyanTX
I am in the process of helping a friend sell a gun collection he has spent 30 years putting together. It consist of 350+ longguns and pistols. But I really don't know how to go about this. He will sell them only as a group. Not piecing out any single colt, winchester etc. 90% of the guns still have the original box and have never been fired.

My question is where do I find someone that would be interested in such a large collection of guns?
Thanks
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Comments

11 comments

Date Votes
  • iwannausername
    You are gonna take a hit on value... takes longer to sell individually, but you will get best price on 'em all.
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  • Nwcid
    I am not sure where you would look for that.

    Selling as a package like that he is going to be looking at loosing at least 25% of the value if not closer to 50%.

    I am not sure of the names of some of the auction houses but that might be a good route but that will cost money too.

    To get the most return he needs to sell them each on their own.
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  • nerak
    quote:Originally posted by RyanTX
    I am in the process of helping a friend sell a gun collection he has spent 30 years putting together. It consist of 350+ longguns and pistols. But I really don't know how to go about this. He will sell them only as a group. Not piecing out any single colt, winchester etc. 90% of the guns still have the original box and have never been fired.

    My question is where do I find someone that would be interested in such a large collection of guns?
    Thanks



    Depending where you live, there are a few great firearm auction houses that deal with collections.

    Just to give you an idea check out www.amoskeag-auction.com They are located in New Hampshire.

    Regards, Karen
    Tamworth, NH
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  • mark christian
    It will be an uphill battle to sell such a large collection in a single lot and he will take a hit on value. I suggest that he break the collection into groups of guns and sell them that way: Colt SAA, Winchester 94s, Winchester 1886, ect. At least that way he will have a target audience for specific guns.
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  • Horse Plains Drifter
    Agree with the others on the value loss selling as a collection. I will put the loss at 50% in a best case scenario and wouldn't be surprised if it only fetches 30-40% of it's market value.

    I also agree with Mark's suggestion that a happy medium might be to sell catagories of brands/models.
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  • Don McManus
    The Cabelas Gun Library, at least our local one, gives a fairly good price (70% to 75% of what they hope to get) for used firearms. At least that is what they tell me, and it seems to hold up. If he insists upon selling them as a group, one would think it would be slightly lower.

    It would be a place to start, as Cabelas has a national market through their stores and on-line sales. It would obviously be a tough sell to an individual.
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  • dane62
    There is real good gun auction house in maine. poulinantiques.com they are real good people.they travel all over the country.
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  • nmyers
    I can understand Ryan's friend not wanting to fool with selling a gun accumulation individually. I have sold > 100 guns, & it takes me 2-4 hours per gun to do that on Gunbroker. Selling, say, 10 guns a week, it would take me 2-3 days a week for a full year to sell 350+ guns.

    But, Ryan left out a couple of important pieces of information:
    1) Does his friend have a detailed description of each gun?
    2) Does his friend have a $ figure he is asking for the lot?
    3) Can his friend ship all the guns anywhere in the country?

    Not everyone cares about getting top dollar for his guns; Ryan did not indicate his friend cares. If Ryan lists whatever information he has here on GB, starting at $1 FOB (that means, the buyer has to pick them up), he WILL sell them.

    Neal
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  • Laredo Lefty
    Since most collectors, myself included, have certain "types" or "brands" or "models" of guns they like for collecting, I doubt you will find anyone who will want all the guns together in one group.

    As mentioned you could break the guns up into catagories, makes, models, era's etc, or sell them individuallly here on GB.

    Another option is to have an auction house sell them at a live auction but they will also take a commission so you will be getting less per gun. This option is much easier but more costly.
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  • beantownshootah
    quote:Originally posted by RyanTX
    I am in the process of helping a friend sell a gun collection he has spent 30 years putting together. It consist of 350+ longguns and pistols. But I really don't know how to go about this. He will sell them only as a group. Not piecing out any single colt, winchester etc. 90% of the guns still have the original box and have never been fired.

    My question is where do I find someone that would be interested in such a large collection of guns?


    No sweat. I'll take them ALL off your hands right now, sight unseen. Would $20,000 cash cover it?


    The point is, selling a whole bunch of guns is TRIVIALLY EASY. . . if you don't care how much you get for them! The point of the exercise, I think, is to try and get something approaching fair market value for the collection, or alternatively to MAXIMIZE what you get for them.

    Taking your question at full face value, the only way you could CONCEIVABLY find ONE person to buy the ENTIRE collection at anywhere near its true market value is if you have a detailed list/description of all the guns, AND a good asking price in mind, AND you publicized the sale listing in a prominent place likely to attract their attention. (And of course the guns themselves have to be desirable).

    An ad in a major national publication (eg shotgun news, American rifleman, Guns and Ammo, etc) MIGHT accomplish that.

    Even THEN, you'd still only expect to get a fraction of the total that the guns would net if sold individually or in small lots.

    Now, I don't know what exactly is in your collection, but if it really is 350 separate guns, brand new in original boxes, and they're desirable collectors pieces, you could potentially be talking a $250k collection (or possibly more) if sold separately.

    Its probably fair to stipulate that the number of individual collectors willing to pay even HALF that much cash for a huge gun collection is pretty small, especially in this economy.

    You may have to wait a LONG LONG time for that buyer to come along, and again, not only will you undoubtedly get more money selling them separately, I'd wager you'd probably sell them much faster too!

    For what might amount to several hundred thousand dollars worth of guns, it really does probably pay to hire someone full time (or part time) to do the sales for you.

    A professional auction house is one way to go. . .there could be others (ie getting a trusted FFL to individually list each piece on Gunbroker with them getting a cut of the sales, etc).
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  • Bert H.
    quote:Originally posted by RyanTX
    I am in the process of helping a friend sell a gun collection he has spent 30 years putting together. It consist of 350+ longguns and pistols. But I really don't know how to go about this. He will sell them only as a group. Not piecing out any single colt, winchester etc. 90% of the guns still have the original box and have never been fired.

    My question is where do I find someone that would be interested in such a large collection of guns?
    Thanks



    Tell your friend he is being both short-sighted and close-minded. The only way to sell (350)+ collectable firearms at one time is to put them up for auction with one of the big auction services (Rock Island, James D. Julia, Greg Martin, Little Johns, Amoskeag, etc.). By doing that, the cost is in the 10 - 15% range of the final gavel price, but the advantage is that the prices realized will typically be at or near the top-end of what they are worth.
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