As the year comes to a close I was thinking of some of the deals I had missed that I could kick myself for, and also some of the jammy deals that I stumbled into that still bring a smile to my face. For me probably the best was when had I arranged to a buy a Lincoln Jeffries Scout air pistol from a well known dealer who shall remain nameless, someone who often has a stall at arms fairs. The price agreed by phone was £150. I had been looking for one of these for ages and was happy to pay this price for a simple push-barrel because of its rarity. After travelling a fair distance to an arms fair to pick up the gun I found when I got there that the dealer had had a better offer and had sold it without telling me. Naturally I was pretty narked about this and walked around the fair in a bad mood without really looking closely at the stalls like I usually do, when somehow something under a pile of nondescript guns caught my eye. It turned out to be another Scout - only the third I had come across (and one of those had sold for over £300 at an auction).The stallholder wanted £50 for it, and needless to say I almost snatched his hand off. Not only was it one of the best deals I had ever made, there was also the sweet moment when I nonchalantly went back to the other dealer and showed him to him, and thanking him for saving me £100.

Has anybody else had a streak of surprising good luck and pulled off a memorable deal?