The One That Got Away Before You Knew What You Were Doing

[TheHobbyist]

As the title suggests, sometimes you just get lucky or unlucky in collecting. It was a number of years back now, when I first started collecting, I lucked into one of the first QTY 12 (?) I believe, Colt 1911's (not A-1 vairants) issued to the US Navy (IIRC).

I do not have accurate records of the purchase but believe I was about 22 or 23 years of age and bought it for the princely sum of $650.00. It was in good condition, used obviously, but very good original finish and wear all considering. I thought at the time I was awful 'smart' to put on old stag 1911 grips and just enjoyed it, shot it on occasion.

Friend of mine, long since retired from USMC, told me to check out the SN, being that it was so low. I did and still didn't realize what I had.

Starting a family at the time, needed funds for an everyday driver truck and sold it to someone I know for about what I had into it.

It was a few years later that I realized I was not the wisest in this decision when I later met that friend or fellow collector--older fella--who then had it listed for $10K+.

Long story short, we all make mistakes in collecting, sometimes we regret or celebrate a sale. What is one that sticks out to you years later?

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Had an early Belgian Cavalry Browning Hi Power.
Tangent sight, cut for stock.
4 Digit Serial Number.

 

[TheHobbyist]

^^^Yup. Knew I wasn't the only one. (or hoped )

 

[ralph7]

Had a rattely 3 digit Colt 1911 with no finish that I sold for $700 back in the early 80's and thought I made the deal of the year, as I made around $400 on it .

 

[Benton Quest]

When I was about 12, my dad flipped, in one day, a minty Colt 38 Super...bearing serial number 60.
60. As in a 6 followed by a zero. Yeah.

I think he paid $150 for it turned for a wicked $170. That was about 1977, but still...I was 12 and knew it was a bad deal.

He claimed a quick $20 at the time was a good deal....

Another time, a buddy of his wanted to sell this old 30-06 autoloader for $50. But, it was a no go because you had to put the cartridges in an 8 round "clip" and then load that from the top. Who had ever heard of such a ridiculous thing. Hard pass. Not paying $50 for that.

Sent from my SM-A025V using Tapatalk

 

[bigmoose]

Coulda bought a factory engraved first gen Colt SAA with Catalin (sp) grips c.1923 for $2200 about a decade ago. It had a nicely carved period holster and gun belt along with it. I just didn't know enough about Colts then. UGH!!!!!

 

[LVSteve]

Genuine Mosin PE sniper.

 

[peterdeb]

1970's Colt Combat Commander in Stainless. Bought and sold it in 1980 for$250.

 

[30-30remchester]

I didn't actually purchase it but told the seller to come back in a few minutes while I got the money from the car. It was a Winchester 94 carbine made in 1940 that had been purchased by the Dept. of Agriculture and had the stamp stating such into the butt stock. Along with the gun came a letter from the original man it was issued to who worked as a pool rider for the forest service. The letter detailed all the deer, elk, bears, mountain lions and such he had taken with the carbine in his 30-year career. Also, a receipt from the Dept of Agriculture where he purchased it. To top it off I knew of him and went to school with his grandson. By the time I got the money from my car the gun was gone and has never resurfaced.

 

[bruce5781]

I purchased a Winchester Model '73 44 carbine with factory rifle butt and single set trigger when I first started collecting. Had to make tuition one semester and since the Madis book had not one, but three of these pictured on the same page, I figured I could always pick up another. Long story short, in 38 years, I have never seen another.

Regards,
Bruce

 

[JohnRippert]

Back when I was cash poor I used to trade a lot of guns for whatever caught my attention that year. Picked up a minty 1891 Argentine Mauser in 7.65 with everything still original on it. Don't remember what I traded it for but I really miss that Mauser.

 

[hkcavalier]

Not nearly as egregious as some already here, but I passed on a used but decent pre-27 long tube for $550 about 10 years ago. Would have loved to have had that one!

 

[MarkHayden]

Colt Mark IV Series 70 for $106…

I signed onto Lynwood Police Dep't (now a contract city for LA Sheriff's Office) in 1973. I saw many officers carrying revolvers and several carrying .45s. I asked a fellow officer about the .45 and he referred me to Long Beach Uniform. There i saw a bunch of brown boxes (maybe 15 or so) with a price of $106 each.

I should have bought several of them…

Mark

 

[diyj98]

A number of years ago I bought a bright stainless steel unfired Colt Python for $400. Then some dummy offered me $500 so I took hist money and ran. I'd have been a fool not to take $100 profit............ or so I thought at the time

 

[arjay]

A total gem. Ran into her a few years ago. She's quite sturdy now and fierce!
Oh,wait..

 

[GSP Fan]

I bought a 6 inch Colt Diamondback about 4 years ago for $900. I believe the gun was unfired. No box or doc's just the gun but it was pristine. I put it in the safe for a couple of years and decided I wasn't going to shoot it so I sold it. I made a hefty profit but now wish I had the gun. A friend sold a 4 inch Python for $1800 because it didn't have the original grips. I passed on that as well. Stupid is as stupid does.

 

[wyo-man]

New 4" Python in the mid-70s purchased for $350.00. Sold/traded but don't remember.
New Browning HP in early 70s for $300.00. Traded for a Colt Government .45.
Bought, then sold a S&W blued CS9 in the mid 90s.

wyo-man

 

[dmar]

Worst thread ever, we should call it the heartburn thread! What did Sinatra sing in his song, My Way, 'regrets, I've had a few…'. So, I'll only list a few, otherwise I'll have problems sleeping tonight. .

HK P7, in very, very nice condition, with box and docs, for $600, or $700. This was around 10 years ago. Didn't really know anything about them at the time, but thought it was an ugly, awkward, and strange gun. Still feel the same about them, but sure would have liked the increase in value!! My buddy at my LGS told me I should jump on it, I should have listened…

Around the same timeframe, 4" nickel Python, LNIB for $800. Had a small blemish on one side of the cylinder, otherwise the gun was perfect, with box and docs. The blemish bothered me. I knew it was still a good deal, but it bothered me. Regret not buying it now, but it still would have bothered me…

6" blued Python Target (.38spcl), absolutely LNIB, $1,200. Gun was from LGS owner's personal collection and he offered it to me when he was looking to sell his store/retire because he knew I liked Colts. Fair deal at the time, but it was bad timing for me money-wise. Wish I had just bought it.

 

[LVSteve]

Worst thread ever, we should call it the heartburn thread! What did Sinatra sing in his song, My Way, 'regrets, I've had a few…'. So, I'll only list a few, otherwise I'll have problems sleeping tonight. .

HK P7, …

6" blued Python Target (.38spcl), ....

I remember when CDNN was selling PSPs for $600 with two mags in the early 2000s. I think they were German LE surplus. Wife#1 wasn't big on semis without a safety lever, so I was "discouraged".

I had the chance to score a stainless Python Target a few years back. Widow was dumping a bunch of her late husband's guns before the druggie kids got wind of them. Market on those was a bit odd on that model according to my FFL. "Stick on GB and start it at $500" he said. "If it doesn't sell, offer her $550". I made the widow over $1k on that gun, and she sold me a S series 5" M&P cheap. Oh well.

 

[Golddollar]

This had to be something like 40 years ago. I was running around Chester County, PA with some friends and we stopped in a shop of some sort that had a gun department. There was what I remember as being a nickeled Model 27 in a box. Unfortunately what I was being paid didn't allow me to drop the hammer on it. Many years later however, I picked up a blued one in the original factory box.

 

[nitrofix]

In the 90's I was displaying at gunshows all over NE, NY and PA.
In Springfield, MA a dealer had a 6 1/2" Reg. Mag. with correct box.
He was asking $5500. which I didn't have in my pocket, but it was only Saturday. Sat down behind my table and tried to figure where to get the cash to bring in tomorrow and then walked over to the RM table and, of course, it was long gone. Oh well.......

 

[ameridaddy]

When I was 9 or 10 years old, I found a dusty wooden foot locker sort of trunk in my grandmother's basement. Upon opening I discovered, in wonderment, my late grandfather's complete kit from his stateside training and 18 months overseas with the AEF in France during WW1 - steel dishpan helmet, gas mask, medals and ribbons, his beat up and bent bugle, blouse with all his patches, pants, overseas cap, a massive trench coat that felt like it weighed about 20 lbs., smokey bear hat from stateside training, canvas belt, leggings, socks, hobnail boots with leg wraps and leggings, pack, entrenching tool, a loooong bayonet with scabbard, canteen & case, first aid pouch, cartridge belt, trench lighter, some kind of haversack, and 2 different types of trench knives with scabbards, and a 15" long bundle of letters he wrote to his mother tied up in string.
There was also stuff he took off German prisoners - 3 pickelhaubes, a coal scuttle helmet, some Iron Crosses, a deactivated potato masher grenade, and: a Luger pistol in its holster with a spare magazine, with a Gott Mit Uns buckle and belt.
Well, my grandmother found me one day wearing and carrying most of that stuff and was afraid of the worst; she called the police and had them take away the Luger and the bayonet.
Maybe if I had waited until I was older, she might have let me have them.
I lucked out on the trench knives, as they were stashed in the haversack and not discovered by the intruders, and I got them later along with some of the letters, all his patches and medals, his bugle, an Iron Cross, the Gott Mit Uns buckle and his trench lighter. My grandmom threw the rest out, claiming it had all gotten all wet. The letters were all written in pencil, and could have been saved.
I read them all at the time, but I would really, really like to have them today.

 

[Bozz10mm]

Back in 1993, before I knew better, I traded a S&W model 19 even up for a Gen II Glock 17. Doh!

 

[shovelhead]

I knew better than to pass on this but I promised. Christmas Eve 2013 my S-I-L and I went last minute shopping. I wanted to check out a gun shop that was on the way, he and I discussed it.

On the way out the door my wife says "Don't buy anything." I promise her I wouldn't.

We walk in, showcase has a Browning Hi-Power, blued, 9mm. Priced at 650.
S-I-L said "you going to buy it?", to which I answered "No, I promised."

Yeah, and we all know what happened to Hi-Power pricing thereafter.

 

[robvious]

A co-worker's father passed.. he was a naval officer during WWII.. his mother didn't want those things in the house, they just scared her.. she was going to call the sheriff to come and take them.. he was a high end shotgun nerd and didn't want anything to do with them either.. so I tried to find a value.. pre internet.. we came up with a number and his mother was overjoyed... I got a 98% US&S 1911A1.. holster, belt, magazines, cleaning kit, ammo & lanyard... along with an early M1 Carbine along with the sling, oiler, magazines, ammo etc... and his complete mess kit.. wow... traded the 1911A1 to a friend so he could display it with his father's Japanese marked Luger P-08... it was, at the time, a fair trade... now, not so much.. US&S are second only to Singer in rarity.. oh well..

 

[Imissedagain]

She was a Redhead and drove a DB5.

Was at Tamiami and planning on buying a dozen new Walther PPKs 22LRs in the late '70s for the Mrs birthday gift.
IIRC When I saw Interarms scratched on them I passed.
They suggested I buy a pallet of MAC-10s.
Out of many blued Colt 22LR Diamondbacks only one was right.
Brought that home for her.
The following year she chose a Colt 1860 Army and she passed on a mint 44 AutoMag.
The 1860 is still unfired.

 

[CajunBass]

More than I care to detail, but here's a few.

Not one, but two Model 24-3's (44 Special), with 4" barrels (one had the box and papers). They only made about 2500 of them. I had two.

Two Model 25's in 45 Colt, with 4" barrels. One was IIRC a -4, the other was a -13 Mountain Gun. That one I really wish I had back.

A 1953 "357 Magnum" (Pre 27) with a 5" barrel, Magna stocks that numbered to the gun and the original blue/gold box.

A 1964 Colt Python, 4" Barrel, royal blue of course. It wasn't perfect, but then a nice shooter grade Python is sort of rare in it's own right.

A first year production Ruger 77/22 with a "made in Japan" Simmons 2-7 scope. Man that gun was a squirrel killer.

Now most of those I had to sell during a year of unemployment. Some things had to be sacraficed.

 

[Hair Trigger]

I'd love to have my first two revolvers back. In 1978, I bought a blued 6" M19-2, to use in PPC matches. I was working as a Correctional Officer and had joined the unit's pistol team. I couldn't afford to modify it with the heavy barrel and other whiz-bang tricks to shoot competitively, so I sold it and bought a 4" M66 no dash, to keep stock and shoot in Service Revolver class. I kept the M66 until 2005. Until about a year ago, I had no idea which series guns I had, until I found an index card in a drawer I was cleaning out that had all the SN's of the guns I had owned up to the year 1988, which were a couple of shotguns, a rifle and the revolvers. The M19-2 was a 1966 vintage, and the M66 was from 1971. Back in those days, I had no idea that their values would appreciate so much. I don't think I gave more than $200 for either of them.

 

[jake1945]

A Texas Divine M1A. I bought it new with extra magazine and 100 rounds of military surplus 308 for slightly less than $300. I sold it to a friend for $400. It had a low 3 digit serial number.

 

[Maddog 521]

I bought a 308 Browning BLR rifle made in Belgium many years ago. I paid $250 dollars for it at a garage sale. A few years later I traded it for something I don't remember but I do remember that Browning.