Should I sell now,or wait?

fat tom

fat tom

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I'm having great difficulty deciding whether or not to start selling off my collection of handguns. I don't really need the money right now,but that could change at any time. The fact that I don't really HAVE to sell would allow me to ask top dollar for the guns I have,whereas if I wait until I do NEED the money,I might be forced to sell at lower than market prices. I don't want to have to sell to folks lookin' for a great deal,but rather to those looking to pay fair prices for NICE guns.
The current political climate could also affect my ability to sell through private transfers,so there's another rock in the grinder.
I've spent the better part of 40 years accumulating these things and I derive much pleasure from them. My son is one of those people who is happy with one handgun,one or two shotguns and rifles and no interest in collecting. I don't want my wife to have the task of disposing of them. We all know how that would end up. I don't shoot anymore,so why do I have this difficulty in deciding to get rid of them?
I sure would appreciate your thoughts. Especially from those of you that find themselves in a similar situation.

f.t.


p.s. The same goes for all of the gun related ephemera.
 
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With Gunbroker.com you can get pretty much fair value anytime. If you have a "friendly" LGS you can ship the guns via the USPS through him and even offer return if you want to.

I feel for you, it is a tough decision whether or not to liquidate your collection. IMO, the USA will be going through a period of inflation due to printing money. This would argue to stand pat if you don't need the money as I feel guns are a pretty good investment right now. Ask yourself, "What would I do with the money?" Savings accounts are paying nothing and CDs aren't much better. Securuties are riskier (IMO). If you have debt you feel you need to pay off that is a reasonable place to put the money. In my case I am accumulating debt as it fits with my strategy to survive inflation (Pay off debt later with inflated dollars).
 
Tom, I fully understand your thoughts/question. I think one of the biggest concerns ,if you are managing the disposition of your own collection, would be getting top dollar{ no sales commission}and no undo government restiction{telling you you can't}. Perhaps one way would be to establish a sliding scale of pricing, documented and updatable, and then work with a younger much trusted friend/advisor to oversee the disposition if you are unable to do it yourself. Your son may very well be that person even tho he is not a collector himself. I have watched and helped several friends and their widows dispose of substantial collections and trust me , there are very honest people to help you. The biggest problem is to make sure your family knows the value. That is your responsibilty now. They then can decide to sell at "dealer" prices, brother in law prices , or retail pricing. You will only maximize the pricing if you yourself manage the sale now, however. Tom it is never an easy choice to make if you also enjoy going down/into your gunroom/den with close friends to cuss and discuss the various guns of your collection, or for that matter, as one very good friend said, retiring to your room to escape the tensions of the world to contemplate things that you like. What ever your choice, all my very best from a fellow collector, Joe.
 
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Dear Big-un,

In the last couple of months I've sold the bulk of my collection. I needed the money and took less for some than I was asking.

It was hard at first to part with guns I'd spent years chasing.
I however had too many guns for my wife and two daughters.

I'm nearing the end of my life and "having fewer so they could be loved more" by my family is the considerate move on my part. Similar to your circumstances. I'm left with about 20 rifles, shotguns, pistols, and revolvers at this point. Maybe too many, but really what I'm comfortable with for now.

All the guns I sold were nice guns. Mostly 5 screws in 98% or better.
I've seen the guns you post. Quality always sells.

There is still Christmas money and soon tax refund money out there now.

I'd be surprised if private party sales survives soon to be new legislation. However most of your sales would go FFL to FFL anyway?
The future is a **** shoot. Perhaps better a bird in the hand, than two in the bush?

Packaging and shipping firearms is a pain in the ***. You might consider consigning your collection to Lee here, or David Carroll. One shipment and your done.

I also have a lot of ammo and now expensive magazines. I'm going to try and sell some at a local gun show coming up.

My daughters love me, so they love my guns.
My wife could live with a single Glock.
(however I'm hedging my bets by keeping revolvers and "sporting" firearms for self defense too)
Gun people like you and I, and many on this Forum, are the exception.

I'm broke and still read the Classifieds here!

There's nothing wrong with green dollar bills.
(in a safety deposit box)

Emory

---------------------------------------------------------------
Hard To Kill
 
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I have sold off a couple of collections (not firearms) and I had some regrets as the process moved along (some ups and downs) but when it was over and the more time passes the more I feel I did the right thing. In my case I had stopped acquiring and friends I had shared collecting with moved on or passed and family was not interested.
 
"Gun related ephemera..."
That wouldn't include holsters, would it ?
Because if it did I'd be hyperventilating right now.
I think your friends on this forum would advise you to pack 'em up
& send them to turnerriver.
All seriousness aside, I think I'm a few years behind you but I've been
pulling out a revolver or 2 & selling them lately. I don't want to
burden my family either. I've got a very good very capable friend
nearby & we both have talked about helping the other's wife if one if us goes
before we sell our own collections.
If you've got the time & wherewithal to discuss this I think I'd start
selling slowly- one or two at a time, you can always speed things up.
Hard to predict about ease of firearms sales in the future but I certainly hope & pray the bottom isn't going to drop out soon.
I might have to drive down & visit this summer when I'm in the mountains.
Best regards,
turnerriver
 
FT...
Same for me. I'm selling all my dup's or even the ones that are
of similair caliber/model.
I just moved a few on Gunbroker and shipping for a non FFL is $$$$.
If you can, set up at a couple shows lay and few out marked at current prices and see how you like it.
I know you likely have good stuff so it will move.

They are gonna shoot guns shows down (pardon the pun) for private sellers. If ya don't move them before any new legistation you or the buyer will be paying transfers fees at God knows what price.
In short, guns are cash.
I'm going to sell off some of mine now and give some special ones to family.
I don't need the dough nor I'm in any sort of hurry to sell.
But, without doubt things are changing at light speed in the firearms world...and it's not good.

I know some will post that they "would never sell one of their guns".
That is fine...but if you have been an active buyer over the years it may be time to move a few...IMHO
All that junk leather you have is a very hard sell...I can take those off your hands.
 
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Interesting timing of your post. I'm in my early 50's and talked at length last night with the Mrs about doing the opposite of you. I have been thinking about taking some of my investment dollars which are earning less than 6% interest and putting it into MORE pistols in the hopes they continue to increase in value in the next years. Of course the current political environment has a bearing on that decision.

As to your situation I agree with parts of all the previous posts. Maybe try selling one or two and see how you feel about it and how they sell price wise. I have been researching certain pieces and prices seem to be climbing not dropping. Needless to say, I'll be watching for your listings should you decide to thin the herd. :-)

Good luck with which ever way you decide to go.
 
Tom, I could have wrote what you did word for word except I dont have a son. I am going on 72 and cant brag about my health. I have enough guns for my daughter to pass on to satisfy any desire in that area, but I have many more that will eventualy be disposed of one way or another. To complicate matters my wife is close to 17 years younger than me. Odds are she will outlive me. While retirements can keep us going while I am alive, she will be in a world of hurt when I pass as we werent married when I retired and all retirement income stops. The smart thing to do in my case would be for me to sell the majority of my collection now and put it into saveings or sellable liquid investments as she could never get for them what I probley could.
Everything we do, every decision we make in life is a gamble even if one claims they arent a gambler. You can get T-boned driveing to prayer meeting. I am a gambler. I need to do the very same as you. I aint.
I sanely know I should be selling some of my high end collectable guns and get the most money possible out of them. After all, they seldom see the light of day out of the safe.
Our shooter grade guns would probley be more sellable for our heirs. At least they wouldnt be cheated out of as much money as is possible on the high end guns.
On the other hand, it might be said that they are going up far faster in value sitting in the safe than any intrest bearing instrument would.
I belive the real factor is, is our spouses or heirs capable of selling them for as much as we can now? Decisions, decisions. What would you/me do with the money if we did sell them at a good price? Save it for the wife or spend it?
 
I've been thinking about the same thing for about the past year when I turned 71. When to make that decision to start selling off. (I'm waiting for the mail to come to deliver the one I just bought off Gunbroker last weekend!). I did carry a 20 ga. O/U I have no use for to the last two gun shows to use as trading material if I saw something I needed, but never took it out of the car. I may put in a gun auction a local auctioneer had a couple times a year, but the commission is about 15%. I did list here awhile back but got no nibbles. I'm not in a rush, but I spend more time thinking about it, when to sell.
 
I am in the same boat. I am almost 69 and arthritis has curtailed most of my shooting. I have been selling off some of my handguns over the last year and putting the money in a special account. Kids have no interest and neither does my wife. Difficult decision, but one that has to be made. I will keep a couple of the .22's I can still shoot, but the rest will go.

Don
 
I've never aspired to be the richest man in the graveyard, nor expected to buried with all my firearms. I've been scaling back, even before the recent events, and haven't had much trouble doing so. Undersold a few, made it back on others, whatever. I'm hanging onto several favorites, but the lesser ones are going. Case in point ... the stock A3 M4 I just sold the other day paid the mortgage for the next two months. That value is far greater than dead inventory in a safe. Would I love to horde everything? Maybe, but I'm not wealthy enough to do that, so I sell what I want if I need the cash, or turn something stale over into something that I will use more. Now's the time ... it's a seller's market and we might not see a buying frenzy like this again for quite some time.
 
Bobby I drove home from North Arkansas today and for 3 hours I thought

about the very same things. I need to lighten my load and am starting to decide what to sell and what to keep. I don't really have anyone to leave any special ones to so they will go too. My wife will keep a few for safety but don't think she would want a 3rd model HE .44 Spl.

and yep John there will be some holsters and grips for sale before too long.
 
By the way things are going, sell them now before the Fed's show up at your door and telling you to "hand them over".
 
buy low...sell high. This is a sellers market if there ever was one. I'd start selling pronto.
 
List them here first, I got a similiar issue, wife told me to sell some or get a second bigger safe (she got me a 40 gun safe two years ago and it is overflowing).
 
Stainless44 said:
buy low...sell high. This is a sellers market if there ever was one. I'd start selling pronto.
Click to expand...

Stainless:

I am not a gun collector but I follow the public pulse and I couldn't agree more with your advise.

There is an east coast Senator pushing background checks to buy a box of ammo. If he is successful the cost of ammo could sky rocket making the demand on guns drop along with the price of the firearm.

Another story I read some liberals are suggesting assessing a property tax on gun owners.

Imagine if a person on this forum has a $100,000 gun collection and Uncle Sam imposed a 2% annual property tax on the collection? $100,000 x 2% = $2,000 annually.

The anti-gun folks don't need to push to abolish the second amendment which would require I believe around 39 States to ratify. The easiest way to remove guns from honest law abiding citizens is to impose regulations that make it an economic hardship to own a firearm.

A good example of a current regulation to control public demand is a gun silencer. The federal permit to acquire such a device costs more than the product. We would be foolish to think the government will not try and impose similar requirement on firearms and ammo.

Russ
 
Bobby,

That is a decision that everyone will have trouble with, I know I will. Do as others have said and pick a couple of your least favorites and sell them and see how it affects you.

From the pictures I have seen you dont have all your eggs in the S&W basket....Your Colts turn plenty of heads so you have lots of perspective buyers from separate arenas.

As for your leather, Turnerriver would be a good caretaker, along with several others.......

I'm a poor young fella but I'll try and muster up some cash to buy some of your grips:eek:

I wish you the best of luck with your decision


- Kris
 
Truth be told, in a very practical sense we could all get by with "just a few", though some would naturally disagree with how many constitutes "a few" and which "few" they would keep.

The point is I have been able to afford a "few" over the course of following a hobby and a sport that has given me much please and enjoyment for over 40 years now. I've threatened, harmed, injured, or killed no one with any of them and resent like the devil a bunch of lilly-livered reality-denying control freaks trying to paint me as the problem and mistakenly attacking my rights because they have neither the intellect nor the courage to call a spade a spade and do what it would really take to solve some of these problems, or to even have the tools to recognize that some of this CANNOT be solved since it involves the condition of the human "heart".

I stray into this since I am at a place much like some who have posted and with a fresh eye have gone to the safe and looked at just what I could "do without" as an academic exercise. Truth is, I could "do without" most of them but I saw very few I'm ready to let go of at this time. The reasons and uses for which I acquired many of them may no longer be at the fore and that's OK.

I realize the practical aspect of leaving a"mess" for someone who doesn't have the depth of knowledge, understanding, or interest in our hobby to deal with, but these things have a way or working themselves out, and if and when that applies to my situation I will be past worrying about or doing anything about it and trust it will not be a big deal if they don't recoup every dollar I could have gotten out of them had I been the one to dispose of the collection. Let someone come here and post about what a great deal they got from my widow . . .
 
This thread is kind of bumming me out guys.

As an analytical response, I like Jaykellog's post. It is inevitable that inflation will have a profound affect on the US$. Sell if you have an impending financial need, but if not consider waiting.
Sell your collection over time and in a manner that would net better returns.
 
Now is the perfect time to sell some of your collection, before the prices go artificially ballistic. PM me with what you have, and see if we can make a deal or two, or....:D
 
Thank you to all who have responded. Sounds like I'm not the only one struggling with this dilemna. Didn't think I would be to tell the truth. Kinda why I posted about it. Everybody's situation is different,so answers vary. I guess I'll start selling them off a few at the time,though honestly,I've done that from time-to-time in the past. Only problem with that is that I just bought more with the money. A one step forward,two steps back kind of thing. I think I will start by offering some to a few of my friends locally who have bought from me in the past. I'll also contact a few dealer/collectors whose reputations will allow them to re-sell at prices far above what I could reasonably expect to get by selling them myself. I'll also list some here (as soon as I can bring myself to do it). I don't plan on buying anything else in the foreseeable future,so some of the grips,leather,etc. will be on the block as well. This is really depressing. :(
f.t.
 
BOBBY-

I know you pretty well and what you like and have :) .

If I were you, I'd list a few on gunbroker that you bought 15 or 20 years ago that are high dollar guns. You should at least triple your cost.

Take the $ and buy junk silver coins and bullion. That's what I did and it's gone up X3 and my wife or kids can sell it in a heartbeat.
( oh, if they don't bring your asking prices lower them some and sell them here to make folks happy ! )

All the Best,

dan
 
I enjoy finding and buying rare or really cool guns, but it's usually the hunt and then the purchase that I enjoy most. Quite often the guns I buy aren't anything I really need and won't use, they're just neat conversation pieces and at that it's mostly for on-line discussions because no one around home cares who Austin Behlert is or how rare an original Bloodwork revolver might be. Last spring I sold a bunch of guns and to finance the purchase of a classic car and it was rather liberating to find that I could part with them and be okay with it. Narrowing down my "collection" has allowed me to focus more on guns I really like and use and has simplified my gun life dramatically, plus we're really enjoying the car.

The guns I have that I like best are guns I use for work, carry, competition or hunting. Most of them are custom and these are the ones that I'll leave to my son because they mean something to me. The rest will be sold over time for new owners to enjoy and the money will go into something else that I enjoy.
 
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