I'm sure there is a lot of subjectivity to the answers any of us would offer, but I'm also sure there would be pretty universal agreement that unfired prewar old guns in the original boxes and with original accessories are collector pieces in the sense that they are investments whose value is expected to increase at a rate faster than the less perfect specimens of the same model.

Some models are so rare that they are "collectors" even if they have been shot -- and still are in the hands of some. I'm almost ready to say that any K-32 is a collector's item because there are so few out there, and any prewar K-32 is really a collector's item because major collectors are lined up to jump when one of the few dozen known examples becomes available. Similarly, almost any prewar Kit Gun is (to my mind) a collector piece regardless of its condition -- though of course, better condition makes a better collectible than lower condition.

The ones that are on the fence for me are things like unfired postwar non-model-marked N-frames. Yeah, they are nice and they are pretty, but there are more of those in the same or almost the same condition. Are they really collectibles. I guess the answer is that if I don't sell them off, they are collectibles to me.

Maybe that's the generalized answer: If I want something enough to pay somewhat more to get it than others would, it's a collectible; and it achieves the same status if I would prefer to hang on to it rather than sell it to fund another acquisition. I'd never dump a nice prewar Kit Gun to get an equally nice RM, for example. There are more RMs than there are Kit Guns, and I would have more opportunities in the future to score the big N-frame than I would another nice Kit Gun.

__________________
David Wilson