Pre-War K-32 Value

[Buford57]

I hadn't seen this discussed yet, but there is such a revolver on one of the Internet auction sites. It is lettered and has been reblued (not a bad job if they had left the hammer and trigger alone). Medallioned Service Stocks look nice, but the letter says it shipped with Magnas. The seller has a starting bid of $8K and no takers after a week plus.

So what would a well-informed collector be likely to part with to own one of 94?

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[rburg]

The $8000 price isn't bad. Its not good either. The refinish probably hurt the value from up maybe in the $12000 range. They didn't make a whole lot of them, though I question your 94 number. We really don't know how many were made, and every time someone publishes a number, someone else comes up with one that does letter and wasn't counted before.

 

[glenncal1]

Refinished collector guns are a strange duck $$ wise. Most serious collectors don't want a refinished gun and not many people are going to pay $8k for a shooter. My guess is that it is going take that seller some time to find the right buyer.

I watched a refinished RM that was for sale here in Colorado a couple years ago. I was trying to decide on whether to bid on the gun just for a cool shooter. In the end it sold for something like $1400, well below normal RM pricing.

 

[JP@AK]

Just me, but I would rather have a gun with worn finish than a re-blue, which I personally consider to be a gun with 0% original finish.

I tend to agree with Bob on this, although I do have a couple reblued shooters in the stable. But I didn't pay much for them either.

JP

 

[DCWilson]

As much as I would like to have a prewar K-32 Target, I would prefer to spend big bucks (assuming I had them when the moment arrived!) on a slightly worn original gun than smaller bucks on an "improved" version that was refinshed without reference to factory protocols. At $8000 this gun is still hugely overpriced in my estimation. I would probably be willing to pay $2000-3000 for it, but I suspect that would never happen because other collectors would probably pay $4000-4500 for it, leaving me out in the cold. Given the manipulation it has had already, if it were to come to my hands I might be tempted to clean off the hammer and trigger and have them processed to restore something like the original case coloring. It still wouldn't be authentic, but at least it would be inauthentic in a way that better honored the factory standards.

Just a footnote on quantity: Those who have spent more time in the company records than most of us here have expressed the opinion that "about 150" of these prewar K-32s may have been produced.

 

[PMRet]

If I'm not mistaken, that gun was originally listed on the auction site several months ago at $14,999. After a few months of inactivity the price was dropped to $7999, and the inactivity continues...

 

[larryofcc]

Never, never, buy a gun you have to make excuses for !!!!IMHO, the revolver in question is not worth 2 cents. It is what it is. Anyone buying this revolver will never see a profit on it as it has already declined in value so much, it will never get any better. Sure, it's a prewar K-32, but it is not and never will be "original" again. I would not waste my time or $$$ on this one. Big Larry