I've been watching a 29-3 Lew Horton on GunBroker, excellent to like new condition, beautiful wood grips but no box or paperwork. It just sold for $2260. Something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it, but am I crazy for thinking that's an absurd amount?

That is why people call it a Grail Gun. They command huge amounts with no sign of coming down. You are not crazy... that is a lot for a LH 29-3. It is about supply and demand. They do not show up for sale that often in pristine condition. If you have the funds, which most of us don't, you can get them. If I had one, I would carry it. Lusted after one for years.

Apparently not to the person who was willing to pay it.

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John 3:16 .

It seems certain models just go crazy at auctions. Others, just as desirable to me, go unnoticed. That is where I am shopping,currently. It is cool to see S&W prices rivaling Colt prices..as I could not understand why all the demand for "snake" guns (having owned a few and sold them off as I did not care for them) It really is a buyer driven market. You aren't crazy..but some buyer certainly are crazy in lust,and pockets deep enough to get what they want!

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My Daddy was a pistol..

"...but am I crazy..."
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Hard to say. Has your mother had you tested?

(Sure hope you're a Big Bang Theory fan)

You are asking this lot of rowdies to judge your sanity?
Geoff
Who figures the answer is therefore obvious.

If it's a collector who "needs" it there can be almost no limit to what will be paid. Years ago there was a hood for a Nikon camera lens (not the lens itself, just the hood) that went for $5,555 on ebay. It was a very rare item (10 or 12 known to have been made) in like new condition in the original box, but even then nobody could understand the price until it was learned that two of the largest Nikon collectors in the world got into a bidding war. In the last few hours of the auction they drove the price from ~$600 (still a lot for a lens hood) to its final price.

The 29-3 here isn't in quite that rarified atmosphere, but if it's a rarely-available version and somebody has been looking for it, the price WILL go up from what we might otherwise consider "normal." Especially if the buyer is of an age where "rarely-available" drifts into "not likely again in my lifetime" territory.

Haven't you browsed the s&w n frames on the online guns for sale lately?
It's not just grail guns. I thought a few years back paying $1,000 for any used n frame was tops if it was decent condition wise. We seem to be soaring up price wise lately.

We been seeing the older collectors cashing in too. I think the supply of used s&w n frames or choice revolvers is starting to dwindle. Locally here it's hard to find any colt, ruger, or s&w from the 70's/80's used in the LGS.
They have been more rare than hens teeth unless there selling as fast as they get put in the case.

If you were to ask my mother and my wife if I was crazy, I'm fairly certain you would get two different answers. Yes, there were only approx 5k made but there are others for sale on the internet. I don't think they are "that rare", seems every few weeks or so another one pops up for sale, I guess when it broke the 2k mark I was very surprised. Gonna have to sell a kidney I guess, who needs two anyway.

Someone I know - let's call him Lazy Butt - has hundreds of guns and a large gun room full of vaults custom built in his custom house. His father had a good shrimp business and worked hard and died young leaving Lazy Butt hundreds of guns and tens of millions of dollars. He could not keep a job more than six months when his dad made him work. He has Winchester Commemoratives, 19th century historical Colt Revolvers that he has never seen. Goes to African Safari's a couple of times a year, has a 4,400 Square foot lake "cabin" full of his full body stuffed kills, A male lion, zebra and numerous antelope. He still buys many more "grail guns" without a thought, he did not work for the money, so it leaves him easily. The shrimp business is gone and the pile of cash dwindles. His kids will need jobs, but they are all in denial. Right now, he would buy such a gun and not think twice.

"Am I crazy?" Well, they say 1 in 3 persons has some form of mental illness. Check the two people closest to you; if they seem ok... you've answered your question.

[/QUOTE] The 29-3 here isn't in quite that rarified atmosphere, but if it's a rarely-available version and somebody has been looking for it, the price WILL go up from what we might otherwise consider "normal." Especially if the buyer is of an age where "rarely-available" drifts into "not likely again in my lifetime" territory.[/QUOTE]

This sometimes drives even my basically poor self to pay more than what I think something is really "worth" - the idea that "at age (none of your business), am I likely to see another one or get another chance to buy one?"