Well, that's the whole purpose of releasing them to the CMP, although I'm not sure yet that they'll be "auctioned". They may simply be put up for sale at fixed prices. The CMP is projected to receive (overall) thousands of these pistols. It's hard to imagine several hundred of them going up for auction at one time, or even over the space of a few weeks.

I've heard the figure of 55,000 pistols will be available to the CMP, but I can't remember where I read it, and have no idea if it's true. And they won't receive them all at once.

I've mentioned this before, but these pistols aren't going to show up at the CMP one day and then go up for sale the following week.

Every one will be inspected and graded regarding condition. If any are inoperative, they'll be repaired. The CMP isn't going to sell pistols that don't work or will malfunction every time someone chambers a round or pulls the trigger. The pistols can be coming from anywhere, even overseas.

I fully expect the pistols will start off at a minimum price of $1000-$1200. Again, it will all depend on condition, and also on the manufacturer. Ithacas will sell for more than Remington Rands...just as they mostly do now. Colts even higher. A really good quality Union Switch & Signal can go for over $7,000 these days. There were only 55,000 of those made during the war years. Ditto for Springfields...very hard to find nice ones now at a price ordinary guys like me could afford.

But I'd be happy to settle for aother Ithaca or Remington Rand. Or a Colt! They are excellent pistols, all of them.

Keep in mind, this isn't a definite done deal yet. And even if it does happen, it'll be a year, possibly two years or longer, before we see the pistols ready for sale.

So I'll just kinda lay back and keep my fingers crossed that it'll happen and that I'll still be around when it does.