Educate me on factory refinishing.

[MP1518]

A friend of mine showed me His 4 inch , 5 screw pre model 29 'S. One is 98% and all original in the case, another is a complete factory reblue that did not require any grinding ( just had honest holster wear). Beautiful job done in the 60's. Cokes , box etc. Third one is also and early ( 6 grove,) 4 incher. But this one had need refinished by a local gunsmith and You can tell had to be polished extensively . Question: Starting with an original gun, how much of a drop in $$$ would 2ng and 3rd one take? Thank You. PS. All 3 guns are about 98% with correct cokes. All 3 are early 4 inchers.

 

[rct269]

#1 is worth X. #2 is worth .5-.6X. #3 is worth .1-.2 X. Real numbers may be found in the SCSW, and then add a fudge factor of your choosing to account for the age of the book.

Ralph Tremaine

 

[Göring's S&W]

I mostly agree. The first gun is worth several thousand, as we all know. The second one's value would drop 30% to 50% and for the 3rd gun, well IMO it is the value of a shooter, in this case "rougly" 10% of the first gun. However, my point is that the price of the "shooter" will not always be 10% of the value of an all original specimen which is why I said its value is that of a shooter, rather than a pct of the original gun's value. Sometimes the shooter will be as high as 50%, depending on several factors.

 

[glowe]

I often wonder how many collectors have a factory refinished gun in their collection and do not know it?? That may be especially true with early S&Ws. I have been tracking factory repair stampings and have yet to see one before 1910, so always wonder if a pristine early HE is original or factory refinished? It seems likely that most sellers do not seem to know the difference.

From what I see at auction, factory refinished guns go much closer to originals than 50%. Maybe it is the novice who thinks the gun is original, or maybe it is the collector who thinks the same thing. Bottom line for me is that I think a properly refinished gun, with factory re-stampings will normally bring 75% of the value of the originals in today's markerplace.

When you talk about gunsmith refinishing, some are great and some are just plain awful, so again I think the value would be 50% for a Ford's gun or other gunsmith's noted for their work. In the past I have seen Chicoine's refinished guns for sale with asking prices close to high finish originals on their website, so maybe it's a range from 10% to 50% depending on quality of refinish.