Is this the time to sell???

I have been selling off guns over the past two years. Family members not really interested, and I don't want my wife to have to worry about them when I go. (Now 80). I've had lots of fun with them for many years, and no regrets. It just happened that guns are bring some of the highest prices in history currently is a pleasant happenstance. Overall, I do feel most of them have returned to me equal to or better than putting the money in a savings account. Some guns have gone for as much as 10 times what I paid for them. Most at least double at a minimum.
 
My friend Dennis, who worked for Kimber, passed away suddenly at 53 about 10 years ago. He had some blood born type of cancer that he only found out about two weeks before the end.

He had over a hundred 1911’s and Smith revolvers. Also had two large safes, two Dillion 550’s, 10’s of thousands of primers, heads, cases of factory ammo, multiple thousands of reloads, tools, etc

Having no kids, his wife was left with a huge mess on her hands. It took her years to sell off or give away everything he had.

Amazing how many vultures came out of the trees during that time.
 
My friend Dennis, who worked for Kimber, passed away suddenly at 53 about 10 years ago. He had some blood born type of cancer that he only found out about two weeks before the end.

He had over a hundred 1911’s and Smith revolvers. Also had two large safes, two Dillion 550’s, 10’s of thousands of primers, heads, cases of factory ammo, multiple thousands of reloads, tools, etc

Having no kids, his wife was left with a huge mess on her hands. It took her years to sell off or give away everything he had.

Amazing how many vultures came out of the trees during that time.

That's really sad.
 
That's really sad.

Yeah, it really was. Dennis was a prolific shooter, traveling all up and down the east coast shooting in matches, mainly indoors, for many years.
Most of the places had poor or no ventilation, certainly not like today.

About two years before he passed he was advised he had too much lead in his blood. He stopped shooting completely, but it may have been too late, if if fact, that was the reason for his cancer.
He didn’t like going to doctors.

Sorry to be a downer.
 
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I’m in the same boat as some that posted here. I’m 76 and not in great health. Have way more firearms than I shoot. No family that’s interested in them. But I’ve made a log book with the descriptions of what I own. My wife is a lot smarter than me. She has plenty of inter net savvy. I’ve made arrangements with my FFL to help her with shipping.
Told told to sell as needed for extra cash.
 
Both my brother and I learned that any guns we ever sold were eventually sorely missed so now they all stay until I'm gone and I hope my son and grandsons will feel the same way when they become theirs.
 
I sold off all my 40SW pistols mainly to consolidate calibers. Made some money as well. It's definitely not a bad time to sell.
 
I had some forced sales because of job losses. I selected guns for sale that I thought I would be able to replace relatively easily. It turned out that some things I decided not to replace, I guess because my interests had changed. The big things were that I was able to protect my house and protect what I considered as classic guns.

When I wrote my will I made sure to determine how many of my guns were suitable to passing down to family (mostly cousins), people who are like family (my honorary nephew) and special organization I have been involved with. My honorary nephew, the firearms law attorney, will find a truck coming up to his office with my collection of Gun Digests, Guns Illustrated, Small Arms of the World, American Handgunner etc. He is the only person I can think of who would appreciate them and it would give him a reference library for guns that sink a battleship.
 
Guns are not always a great investment but maybe keep in mind that we are experiencing high inflation right now and it looks like it will go higher.


Unless you need the money or are estate planning maybe it is better to hold on to hard assets for now?
 
Investments are investments, hobbies are hobbies. While there are times when a hobby item can become valuable, it tends to be the exception to the rule.

While I have had offers on various things I've collected over the years, I didn't buy them to make money off of them, and have never sold anything just because I could make a good profit, although no one has offered me a really stupid amount of money for something yet (except possibly the transferable AR auto sears my Dad bought decades ago for something like $35 each, but we still have those.)
 
It almost seems to me that you are looking for approval from others about selling. The choice is yours and yours alone. But remember that getting rid of something that you, at one time, desired because the price is right, may come back to haunt you. At some point in the future you may want that item again, and regret having sold it. And it will cost you 2, 3, or 4 times what you originally paid and/or sold it for. I have quite a collection of firearms. I rarely ever sell what I buy. But when I do sell or trade, I don't ask for anyone's approval or opinion on whether I should or shouldn't. That decision will be made by me and me alone.
 
...Having no kids, his wife was left with a huge mess on her hands. It took her years to sell off or give away everything he had.

Amazing how many vultures came out of the trees during that time.


Sure but consider that it took her years and a lot of hassle to finally sell off the lot.

Selling wholesale now vs "retail" years in the future might not be so bad.

Before the craziness started I bought an estate lot from a friend of a friend's widow for $1,100.

It included 5 long guns, lots of ammo, misc pieces and a nickel Colt Diamondback with 4" barrel.

Nothing special except for the snake gun which needed work.

I sold everything except the Colt and made a $400 profit which I put back into the Colt.

Later as things started to go sideways and demand was high, I sold the Diamondback for $2,000.

A $2,000 profit against a $1,100 investment is great of course but I had no way of knowing what was about to happen but still took the risk.

It was a hassle for me and convenient for her.

It worked out but the main thing is that we were both satisfied for our own reasons.

It isn't always what it appears from the outside.
 
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Run of the mill guns aren’t a good investment when you thing of what money would have earned as interest. But it’s different story on true collector items, they only go up.
Also whether they are good investment or not, guns ( weapons ) always have maintained a value when other items have little or no value in times of economic strain. Many people have major bucks in “Collections”. If things go south what do you do with a collection of Hummels or Franklin mint nick knacks? Beanie Babies are in a different class. Come bad times you can always gut one and make a bowl of soup.
 
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