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Old January 26, 2012, 10:21 PM   #10
bedbugbilly
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 19, 2009
Posts: 3,283
Good luck with your adventure and keep us posted on how you come out - and pictures please! I'm hoping that you run into a "keeper"! Strange things happen and once in a while, you run across something that you'd least expect. You have to remember that not everyone has a "thing" for guns.

Many years ago, I ran across a friend of an acquaintance who was Administrator for his father-in-laws estate. The old man had collected guns for a number of years. In settling the estate, the Probate Judge ordered the Administrator to have the guns appraised. He took them to a local gunsmith who appraised them at a price that was beyond cheap. The gunsmith evidently figured that he would later buy them from the estate at the price he had appraised them for. However, in the meantime, the gunsmith died.

When the Administrator was given the go ahead by the judge to sell the guns, he got in contact with me as he knew I liked old guns. He, nor the family had any interest in them at all - to them, it was something to get rid of so the estate could be settled and they could go on with their lives.

I went to the guys house and he gave me a list of the guns and told me I couldl have as many or as few of them that I wanted at the price they were appraised for. Long story short, I paid $335.00 (yes, you are reading that correctly) for 35 guns. A few were "wall hangers" but in the lot, I got a German Schuetzen Rifle, Brown Bess, Whitneyville Plymouth NavyRifle (only 15,000 produced), 1861 Bridesburg, 1864 Watertown (1862 pattern), British 1855 Enfield, Austrian Lorenz Rifle (with Ohio markings) as well as several nice European sporterized Mausers, ML shotguns and round ball rifles - all guns were originals and in nice shape and unaltered. I have since liquidated my longun collection with the exception of several. So you see, every once in a while a person lucks out. At the time, I tried telling the Administrator that they were worth more but he insisted that he only wanted what they were appraised for (the family was well to do and really didn't need the money) and he was happy that someone was getting them that would enjoy them.
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If a pair of '51 Navies were good enough for Billy Hickok, then a single Navy on my right hip is good enough for me . . . besides . . . I'm probably only half as good as he was anyways. Hiram's Rangers Badge #63
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