Quote:
Originally Posted by Absalom
Your comment nicely illustrates the confusion that frequently arises: what exactly do we mean by collectible?
There are really two kinds of people who call themselves collectors: collectors who are interested in owning the guns for technical or historical reasons and investors who buy guns hoping they will increase in value (of course there are "hybrid" collectors with feet in both categories too  ).
For the first kind, let's say someone who is building a representative collection of fixed-sight K-frames, the Model 12 is very collectible, and the early all-aluminum guns with the aluminum cylinder that you shouldn't shoot at all are the most collectible, since they're not that easy to find. Whether they'd be a good investment for the second type of value collector is a different question.
So whether a gun is collectible depends entirely on your collecting mission. |
When it comes to collectable to me it means the object is expensive because everyone wants one (example model 19 2.5in or P&R K frame 3in) Anything can be a collectable if it's meant to fit into a certain spot. Like your example of the fixed sight K frame. The H&R 22cal revolver can be collectable to someone trying to fill a collection of all 22cal revolvers from XYZ date even though the gun itself is not a collectable.
Of course there are the other kinds as well
Some common guns while not exactly collectable are becoming desirable. Take a look at the early Glock 17 & 19, gen1. I know....it's still a Glock and nothing much has changed. They grew some rails and finger groves. However, I never see them at gun stores. I see tons of used Glocks of all calibers, nothing unusual there but it rare to find a gen 1. I managed to buy one a few months back. With all paperwork and box. Barely been used. Now I didn't buy it because of it's rarity, I bought it for they're reputation but as I was doing the paperwork I was talking to the salesman about it and what he said was very interesting. These guns come in all the time but they rarely last an hour on the shelf. Soon as someone sees a gen1 G17/19 they buy it on the spot. So while they're not valuable they seem to have a collector like following
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