Sometimes it DOES still happen though. This is a post I made a couple of years ago when a friend of mine mentioned that his great uncle had left him some guns 35 YEARS before and they had been sitting in a cabinet since then.

As I recall, there was a model 12, a model 36, a pre-model 19, a K-22 Masterpiece all unfired, new (almost new?) in their boxes. Still with the receipts from the sporting goods stores where his great uncle had bought them.

(Over and above, there were 2 NIB Colt SAAs from the 1920s which sold for about $20K each in an auction later, and a NIB Hi_Standard Military .22)

He kept the pre model 19 and the Hi Standard...and sold all the rest. All too high for my meager resources.

Here's the old link:

Information and/or values - pristine old revolvers