Well, there have been several posts on this forum as well as other gun forums talking about guns not being worth what was paid for them. And I am not talking about one of a kind, (or one of 10), but standard production firearms. So, someone paying 5K for this M57 doesn't seem that far fetched. Think of it this way, people who paid a lot extra for a 1 of 1000 Winchester 1873 were probably questioned on why they spent so much when a standard Model 1873 was about 10% the cost. Now those rifles are worth up to several thousand times what they were sold for. Was this M57 worth near the 5K mark? Of course, because someone paid that much. Sort of like certain paintings...are they worth in the 10's of millions? Not to me, but obviously they are because someone paid that much for them. It has been said before, one very good way is to put a gun, or any other valuable item, in a no reserve auction. What it sells for will determine its value. After that, there will be three different groups; the paid way too much for it group; the that was the correct value group; and the went for way too low group.