Not "How much is it worth but how much was it worth?"

[trajectory]

Okay, anyone either have a good memory or else have any old adverts etc to give an answer to this please for either a private or retail sale value. Let's consider a used example, working order, not a mint boxed example or a shed find, just a nice solid reliable sort of thing that someone would happily buy & use.

For example, how much was a secondhand BSA Stantdard (or any of the pre war BSA's) a Webley Service Rifle or a Pre War Webley Air pistol going to set you back in the late 1950's to early 1960's?

Just curious if anyone can help with this please, thanks in advance

[duomatic410]

Webley mk11 in 1950 cost me £4 /10 shillings with a part box of Beathall pellets in 22.
Magic, shot a lot of rabbits with it up to swapping it for a Lee efield mk4 303.
Hoppy days

[Garvin]

I’m not sure there was much demand for old things 50 or 60 years ago. People were willing to pay for newness and what ‘improvements’ technology brought (i.e. cost-cutting measures like cheaper materials).

[Geezer]

I’m not sure there was much demand for old things 50 or 60 years ago. People were willing to pay for newness and what ‘improvements’ technology brought (i.e. cost-cutting measures like cheaper materials).

Agree. Until the 70s, there was a largely accurate belief that new stuff was better than old stuff, be it guns, cars, whatever.

And of course this was before the internet, specialist dealers, airgun mags. So most used sales were trade-ins to the local gun/bike/sport shop, or private trades negotiated in the pub or over the garden fence.

[trajectory]

I wasnt sure how older ones would have been thought of. I can understand the desires for new things, moving on & away from wartime austerity & people generally embracing change & modernity, but wondered what the availability of new rifles was like, had production for such items as air rifles picked up by the late 50's?

So, if old air rifles were not of much interest in the late 50's or early 60's when was it that things turned around & some started to think that these old guns were interesting & with a second look (or in some cases I guess a first look), & worth having & values started to reflect it? Was it in the 70's when a new generation began to discover them?

[DAVALI]

About 1955 i Purchased from a Junk shop a Webley Service MKll with three barrels, 0.177, 0.22, 0.25, for £15.00 complete with canvas covered case knew nothing about matching numbers etc, kept and used for about two years then sold to an antique shop in Paddington London for £25.00 to finance insurance for my motorcycle, I thought that making that profit was fantastic!, I wish I had kept it now!.
Dave.

[Garvin]

About 1955 i Purchased from a Junk shop a Webley Service MKll with three barrels, 0.177, 0.22, 0.25, for £15.00 complete with canvas covered case knew nothing about matching numbers etc, kept and used for about two years then sold to an antique shop in Paddington London for £25.00 to finance insurance for my motorcycle, I thought that making that profit was fantastic!, I wish I had kept it now!.
Dave.

Great story, Dave!

Are you in your late 80s?

[AC99]

As a lad in 1960 a mate of mine was looking to raise some cash to have some new gears fitted to his bike and his dad wouldn't lend him the money but instead gave him his old BSA underlever which he had stored in the garden shed and owned since the 1930's to sell and keep the cash for his bike project.

He knew I was quite an airgun fan having recently bought a Webley mk3 from an Exchange & Mart ad and he offered the BSA to me for 30/- (£1.50) but it was rather tatty compared to my mk3 and I declined the offer. I paid £9 for the ribbed stock Webley which was also fitted with Parker Hale aperture r/s and which I wanted as a 'shooter' and as a youngster I was not remotely interested in collecting then, like most of my generation presumably.

However I must have been interested In Webleys from an earlier age and was aware of the mk3's predecessor and so I wrote to Webley in Weaman St. enquiring about the Mk 11. I received in reply a fairly general letter (which I still have and it is dated 30th August 1957) covering all queries concerning Webley guns including air pistols, rifles, shotguns etc and signed by the General Manager, E.G.Bewley explaining that "....manufacture of the Webley Mark 11 air rifle has been discontinued , but most replacement parts are available and factory overhaul can be undertaken....." . I was quite mystified by the Mk11 since it looked completely different from all the other air rifles current then but I recall when searching the airgun columns of the E&M in the 60's the few Mk11's that were advertised were out of my price range - probably over £20 - and being still at school could not afford that sort of money.

I regret now not having bought the BSA of my mate's dad that he had offered me but at the time it looked so 'old-fashioned' !

Aubrey

[trajectory]

There's some great stories relating to early finds, & prices too, so thanks for taking the time to post them. I remember missing out on a Merlin some years ago, it was in an antique shop we popped into when on holiday near Bournmouth. It was in an umbrella stand with a few walking sticks & almost hidden from casual view. I had a look at it & thought it was worth the asking price. £10 for a Merlin in good nick, grizzle grizzle, but this was in the early 90's I think so a bit out of the time frame I was asking about. Maybe not a great loss after all.

[NOTSHARP]

I bought my Mk.1 Meteor off a chap I was working with, in 1968'ish, for £3. That was quite a chunk of cash from an apprentice's wages.

I still have it, so money well spent.







Steve.

[trajectory]

I bought my Mk.1 Meteor off a chap I was working with, in 1968'ish, for £3. That was quite a chunk of cash from an apprentice's wages.

I still have it, so money well spent.







Steve.

Some things you do just want to hang on to, they might not be the rarest or the most collectible but for whatever reason they just become that little bit special & well, you just don't want to get rid of them. Sentimentality, hard earned or whatever it might be.

[lodmoor]

Late 60's early 70's I was buying Webley pistols at about £18.00, was offered a couple of nickle plated ones at £25.00 but considered it too expensive.

[Benelli B76]

This BSA cost me £3, 60 years ago, my wage as an apprentice at Vauxhall was £5 per week. You could walk around the streets with a rifle or shotgun with no gun bag in those days. Just bought two similar for £150 and £200 respectively.

Baz

[IMG][/IMG]

[trajectory]

This BSA cost me £3, 60 years ago, my wage as an apprentice at Vauxhall was £5 per week. You could walk around the streets with a rifle or shotgun with no gun bag in those days. Just bought two similar for £150 and £200 respectively.

Baz

[IMG][/IMG]

It might sound cheap compared to today's prices but as you say compared to a weekly wage, well it's a sizeable chunk of your income at the time. Got to have really wanted it to shell out that kind of money.