Collectors Question!

[exmoor beast]

Purely hypothetical, you purchase a rare Webley / BSA etc its new, in the box , never been fired..now would you fire it or not ? If not whats the fascination with a virgin gun? I tell you why I ask, I dabbled with collecting & bought a Superstar & Stirling both in boxed/as new condition & was afraid of using them. I decided I was not really a collector sold them to people that were. Put your twopenneth in, I'm quite interested.

[premierpistol]

Damn right I'd fire them! and then clean them so they looked like they'd never fired

I know where you're coming from mate but i too cannot see the point of buying something purely as an ornament

fair enough with something like a decommed 357 pistol or a replica etc, where they wont work anyhow.

B/W PAUL

[Gareth W-B]

Damn right I'd fire them! and then clean them so they looked like they'd never fired . I know where you're coming from mate but i too cannot see the point of buying something purely as an ornament

Hi there Jason, and ditto wot Paul said (and although it may've looked like new that boxed Superstar of yours had been fired, and used for hunting, by yours truly when it was in my custody ). I only own one gun that I have never fired, and as that is still in the post on it's way to me, that's not too surprising and will be rectified within a day of landing (it's an FWB Sport 124 MkI -- the last off my "want" list, and maybe the last to grace my collection as with it's arrival I will consider my collection complete ). Atb: Gareth W-B.

[mallyally]

they are made for shooting
it would be like buying a painting and not looking at it
or marrying pammy anderson and going to bed with palm oyerhand
thats my two pee worth anyway

[exmoor beast]

Hi there Jason, and ditto wot Paul said (and although it may've looked like new that boxed Superstar of yours had been fired, and used for hunting, by yours truly when it was in my custody ). I only own one gun that I have never fired, and as that is still in the post on it's way to me, that's not too surprising and will be rectified within a day of landing (it's an FWB Sport 124 MkI -- the last off my "want" list, and maybe the last to grace my collection as with it's arrival I will consider my collection complete ). Atb: Gareth W-B.

COLLECTION COMPLETE! HA! Is your wife looking over your shoulder or something? Seriously though, there was a BSA Goldstar (motororcycle this time) still in its delivery crate "unopened"...I just know some geek bought it from the Texas dealership & stared at it through the slats. I've even gone to the other extreme of buying a Diana 48 that was tatty so I could take him out all weathers! Still , its what makes people tick I suppose.

[Sam Vimes]

with it's arrival I will consider my collection complete ). Atb: Gareth W-B.

I think I've seen you post words to this effect at least every quarter for the last couple of years!

To the OP,
for a genuine dedicated collector I can well understand the appeal of a boxed, unused example. For most people that simply accumulate different guns then I really can't. Like you I'd be reluctant to use a genuine mint unused old rifle. I suspect that I'd be looking to sell on and buy a very good but used example of the same gun.

[Punchsteve]

Guns are made to be fired, so even if I got hold of a mint, and unused rifle, I would fire it occasionally. The difference being that most likely, (if I hunted) I'd be more wary of taking it out to hunt with.

[Gareth W-B]

I think I've seen you post words to this effect at least every quarter for the last couple of years! .

I've been rumbled ... Ha ha. Hi Chris, you and I know you are spot on with that, but with funds now so very low after resigning from the school to look after my kids (works out cheaper than paying for child care as all three are under four) and then loosing my main part-time publishing contract within a week due to the credit crunch, I reckon that for the foreseeable, this time, my collection must be considered complete ... Not a problem however as I still have more air rifles than many a mere mortal would consider sane, I have all off my "want" list, and this'll give me plenty of time to compile my next "want" list, for when the money starts flowing a little more freely again (cup half full and all that ). Atb: Gareth W-B.

[mrjasonryan]

That's all fine and good. I myself have one or two pistols and rifles in my collection, and if i want to get them out for a play, some of which are total minters. I will cock them and gently re cock them slowly by hand, so there mechanisms are moving with a little oil here and there. Then and wearing gloves, i put them back to sleepy byes in there rightful places wrapped in cloth, and the boxes separate from them. Then i get out the crap non-minters of the same type and fire them instead, knowing that they only cost a few pounds and i get enjoyment knowing i have the same pistol or rifle in the best possible condition to pass on to my new born son when hes older. I think its almost like being a drug addict. you want to find and must have the best you can, and the near best to fire. always upgrading to a better one that's until you get the best and those don't get fired.
just my view anyway,

[Garvin]

as with it's arrival I will consider my collection complete ). Atb: Gareth W-B.

Yeah right.

I have one or two minters and while as a collector they are the 'holy grail' in one sense, in another they can be a bit of a let down. My favourite guns are some of the oldest and tattiest of the lot. They shoot really smoothly, and have signs of long use, which somehow reminds me of their great age and that I'm probably the last in a long line of owners and users.

[Muskett]

Collecting, NIB, is big business but very little of it will ever give you a return other than at best your money back. Airgun wise very little is not unused. Less than 25 years old then its worth keeping in as good condition as possible as most items don't wear well and NIB does give a better return and respects a premium.
A lot of air rifles, springers, don't shoot very well unless they have done quite an extensive running in. Too much to be genuinely new any more. Used example that you can really get shooting are cheap and genuinely plentiful.

There is something very appealing in new things. So, yes, if it has some age and is still NIB then keep it that way. If it does nothing for you sell it on to a collector who does get excited. Buy a rough example and pocket the change.

Buy anything new and put it away as an investment rarely makes commercial sense; especially if it is marketed as a collectors piece!

[mallyally]

Yeah right.

I have one or two minters and while as a collector they are the 'holy grail' in one sense, in another they can be a bit of a let down. My favourite guns are some of the oldest and tattiest of the lot. They shoot really smoothly, and have signs of long use, which somehow reminds me of their great age and that I'm probably the last in a long line of owners and users.

how true
some of my faves have a ding or two but shoot lovely
i have a near mint FWB that needs about another ten thousand shots through it but it wont (not by me anyway) as my others are so nice and smooth
so mint aint always better
if you want to enjoy ownership of a classic air rifle

[silva]

Minters can be a worry, as about the worse thing that a collector can do is allow the condition of an item deteriorate during his ownership.

I do have a few mint things but I tend to pick them up with an oily rag for 90% of the time and only shoot them the other 10%. Are they a source of pleasure ? - I'm not sure - they definately are when you first discover them, but keeping them mint can be quite stressfull.

I have two old steel Zeiss Jena rifles scopes from the 1930's. One in mint probably unused condition and the other in very good condition with no wear to the mechanics but a little wear to the blue. Both have perfect optics. The mint one never sees the light of day and is only rarely handled. The other I get far more pleasure from, it sits on my desk and regularly gets used for scanning out of the window with !

Why do I keep the mint one, to be honest I'm not sure - Is it because it is a little time capsule just as it left the factory and a touch stone to the past ? Or perhaps because the chances of finding one in such good order is infinisibly small ? Or is it as a testiment to the hundreds of thousands of interactions over the last 75 years that somehow allowed this scope to survive unblemished !

My favourite Bsa - though I have some rare ones in very good order - is my old Cadet - excellent mechanically, with great wood but with enough finish missing from metal work through honest wear to shoot all day without fear of marring the finish.

I'm sure collecting can become a mental afflication or obsession for some people, rather than a pleasant past time.

William Morris said something along the lines of "never have anything in your house that is neither use nor ornament"

Cheers

[Hsing-ee]

I always end up selling 'mint' condition guns. I like something that is about 85% so then I don't feel bad about it getting a bump or a scratch.

Some people are real COLLECTORS, they are not interested in the actual thing for what it can do, but more for the thing in itself and its place in their collection. It doesnt make sense to the usual type of 'airgun collector' who is actually a shooter who just likes to own alot of different guns because he enjoys their differences and the design relationships between them. I really cannot understand people who want to own every variation of the Webley over-barrel-cocking pistol, a Senior and a Tempest would do me. That's not to say they are wrong, but I just would not get much of a kick out of hunting down all those very similar pistols.

If I had alot of money I would have a large 'collection' of whiskies and red wines but I would not be a collector of them simply because they would all get glugged down at some point or other.