Something for those wanting collectable BUT have no clue...
Had a man call me teh otehr night about a BP long gun that he THOUGHT was an original and worth a lot of money. Said he was offered $600 for it at a "flea market" gun sho so figured it was worth a lot more. Well I took a look and what he had was a 1950's to 1960's pieced together gun. It had a English brown bess barrel, 1777 French Charleville stock, an Austrian cap lock, brass barrel bands, brass trigger gaurd that had the sling swivel milled out in a block style (which was never done except on Japanese replicas), and a lot of the parts were crude, not to period piece parts. It had markings on the stock like cartouches BUT none could be made out at all. Best part was barrel had 1848 marked on the underneath of it!!!! He thought he hit the lottery on a gun he paid a couple of hundred for that was worth at best $100 IF you parted it out on ebay. What I am getting at is this, IF you want a good collectable investmet grade wall hanger, DO YOUR REASEARCH FIRST before you buy anything at all. invest in gun books on black powder, ask people who fool with BP guns, look at sites on teh net, DO YOUR RESEARCH. I hated to break the news to the gent last night but he was looking for a buyer, the original call came from an auctioneer friend of mine being the man wanted to put it in an auction thinkig he had a 1848 antique military musket but my frined sent him to me first to see hwat he actually had. There are people out there who can make a 1700 era flintlock LOKK exactly as it should even down to teh antique patina SO do your research if buying oine as original and insist on documentation. Sadly I busted the bubble of a man last night on his get rich quick heirlom that he bought for a song, he should have taken the $600 from the other idiot at the Flea market gun show IMHO, at least he would have made $400 profit.