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Extremely large Old West auction. Begins 7/15, Guns 7/17


Captain Bill Burt

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I had looked at this sale a few days ago. Lots of neat guns. I do wonder about the historical accuracy of some of them. Many are listed as belonging to certain people from history but they offer no certified Provenance. Some guns had old documents with them in the listings but the documents weren't offered as verified either.

 

I did find this in their terms and condition

 

NEITHER GUERNSEY'S AS AGENT NOR THE CONSIGNER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY FAULTS OR DEFECTS IN ANY LOT OR THE CORRECTNESS OF ANY STATEMENT AS TO ANY ORIGIN, AUTHORSHIP, DATE, AGE, ATTRIBUTION, GENUINENESS, PROVENANCE OR CONDITION OF ANY LOT.

 

CAVEAT EMPTOR

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First off I would never go to an auction that charges a 25 % buyers fee and I would expect much better describtion of the item such as serial number and much more at anything over 10% fee including far better pictures. As one who does and has bought many guns at auctions when I see lack of information I know the seller either doesnot know much about the item or keeps quite for a reason.

But thanks for the heads up on this auction anyway.

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I was reading about the whole reason for the auction in the first place. The items were all purchased for a municipal old west museum in PA. Seems like they overpaid for a lot of items as well:

 

http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/07/pa_city_hopes_wild_west_auctio.html#incart_river_default

 

The proceeds garnered from the city's auction are expected to be small, both with respect to the city's total debt load, as well as to the price paid for those items. The city's financial recovery plan lists the 8,000 artifacts' current value at $500,000, Previti reports. Together with the $1.7 million brought by prior sales of the 2,000 highest-quality objects, that would mean a return of roughly one quarter of the $8.3 million total payment estimate provided by the city.

 

WOW! :blink:

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The reason for the 25% buyers premium is likely due to the owner not wanting to pay ANYTHING out of their side of the auction proceeds. Usually, when you see a 10% buyer premium, the seller is also kicking back 10% to the auctioneer.

 

I agree with Texas Man. For the "museum quality" items they are auctioning, the auctioneer should have taken some time to list how the items were authenticated.

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