Or the right SHOOTER.
I know nothing of collectors. The idea of buying a nice pistol and NOT enjoying it for what it was made for doesn't compute, for me.
I suspect you are right on the mark. $1000 to $1100 sounds about right. I would be interested in what my friend mbliss thinks as he keeps pretty good track of 3rd gen pricing. And he has had a couple of these IIRC.
I purchased my first RJF Melonite 4566 back in 2009 off an officer in Ohio who had bought it to use as a duty gun - before he found out that personally owned weaponswere being prohibited by his agency. I shot it quite a bit and carried it on my own time, but never qualified with it to carry it on duty. I would not sell mine though. It is a VERY accurate 45 with a very nice trigger.
The New Hampshire Maritime agency that used these Melonite 4566s had around 50 examples IIRC. So, if you add those, plus the observed serials.......not quite adding up to 119...... Puzzling. Regards 18DAI