Holts Auction - Norfolk Today (25-3-2024)

[Mark D]

Just some of the hammer prices on a number of items I was watching

1. Lot 41 Sportsmatch GC2 Custom .177 - £1100
2. Lot 10 AA NJR 100 .177 - £600
3.Lot 61A Theoben SLR 88 .22 - £2100
4.Lot 72 D Robinson Stocked AA Shamal - £750
5.Lot 85 Tell 3 - £550

[cozzamec]

Gc2 seemed a good price.
Slr's going for top money still!

[flogger]

some very good buys especially in the pistol section, Some of the webleys went very cheap. Its a pity i am getting older and have had to come to my senses and stop buying more guns. Never mind i can but drool at them.

[Garvin]

Some absurdly low prices here. Look at these for instance:




This confirms my suspicions that there's a big sell-off quietly underway, with some major private collections being sold off. This presumably means it's a bad time to sell and a good time to buy! It must be terribly disappointing for the vendor to learn they will get very little for their possessions...

[45flint]

Some absurdly low prices here. Look at these for instance:




This confirms my suspicions that there's a big sell-off quietly underway, with some major private collections being sold off. This presumably means it's a bad time to sell and a good time to buy! It must be terribly disappointing for the vendor to learn they will get very little for their possessions...

I could only dream of some of the guns in that auction. Wrong side of the ocean for good prices. The Beeman collection sale here is a similar example of older collections having to find new homes and maybe prices won’t be what they were? The auction house here seems to want to stretch the sale out over a very long time.

[slug-gun]

Indeed some absurdly low prices, but one or two very high ones; eg the Theoben SLR88. Not that long ago they were a £500 rifle tops. Also prices were strong for the rare and mint items seemingly currently in demand, witness the amount paid for the boxed BSA Stutzen or Air Arms Pro Elite? A really excellent pre war Standard also fetched good money. Guns from the 1980's/90's are selling for greater amounts than ostensibly more desirable items from an earlier period, perhaps being bought by collectors who remember them from their youth and therefore can more readily identify with them?

So the low prices I think are a combination of certain guns being unfashionable at the moment, perhaps combined also with their condition not being first rate? There is money for the exceptional, though having said that the gallery guns did seem to be real bargain basement.

An over riding factor dominating prices is the current so called 'cost of living crisis', which may be causing people to reign in their spending even if they have ready cash? I can afford this but do I really need it, when costs are rising all over the place?

The vintage air gun market is by no means an isolated example. The classic car market is also suffering currently, and for anyone who wants an old MGB/Austin Healey/ even E type Jags, they are all becoming cheaper to buy.
And the more prosaic classics are almost being given away. Same mindset seems to apply here as it does to airguns?

[Garvin]

Indeed some absurdly low prices, but one or two very high ones; eg the Theoben SLR88. Not that long ago they were a £500 rifle tops. Also prices were strong for the rare and mint items seemingly currently in demand, witness the amount paid for the boxed BSA Stutzen or Air Arms Pro Elite? A really excellent pre war Standard also fetched good money. Guns from the 1980's/90's are selling for greater amounts than ostensibly more desirable items from an earlier period, perhaps being bought by collectors who remember them from their youth and therefore can more readily identify with them?

So the low prices I think are a combination of certain guns being unfashionable at the moment, perhaps combined also with their condition not being first rate? There is money for the exceptional, though having said that the gallery guns did seem to be real bargain basement.

An over riding factor dominating prices is the current so called 'cost of living crisis', which may be causing people to reign in their spending even if they have ready cash? I can afford this but do I really need it, when costs are rising all over the place?

The vintage air gun market is by no means an isolated example. The classic car market is also suffering currently, and for anyone who wants an old MGB/Austin Healey/ even E type Jags, they are all becoming cheaper to buy.
And the more prosaic classics are almost being given away. Same mindset seems to apply here as it does to airguns?

It's what you've always said, Chris. Top quality rare guns retain their value, the rest go up and down. Although who would have thought the gallery guns market would tank like this?

[Muskett]

A Porch 912 GT3? have dropped £100,000. But then they were holding a £60K premium over list.

There is a load of adjustments in markets going on when borrowing isn't free any longer. Taxes are sky high too.
What happens when the government has the economy on hold for a health crisis. And borrows too much anyhow. Don't look at the opposition either as they hadn't the answers either.

[Garvin]

Does anyone recognise this extraordinary repeater? Sold for £380.

https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery....e-1980s-1990s/

[Garvin]

I was just looking at the Don Robinson stock on the AA Shamal and thinking it's not too bad, what a lovely chunk of walnut. Then I spotted the floral carving... He just couldn't resist.

[Rikard]

I was just looking at the Don Robinson stock on the AA Shamal and thinking it's not too bad, what a lovely chunk of walnut. Then I spotted the floral carving... He just couldn't resist.

The actual stock is an Airmasters FTXS but with what looks like flourishes and stock embellishments maybe Don Robinson did those

[harvey_s]

It's what you've always said, Chris. Top quality rare guns retain their value, the rest go up and down. Although who would have thought the gallery guns market would tank like this?

Kind of predictable as they become less relevant to the younger collectors and the older collectors look to off load their collections rather than buy more...

[silva]

That military pattern was a beauty, one of the nicest condition ones sold for a while. I think the vendor would only have got about £1850 after commissions were paid. Not sure auctions are always the way to go for selling or buying expensive items.

[ogilkes]

Sterling HR83 £600 .... I did give it a try but fell far short. How many HR 8s did they make I wonder?

[45flint]

Sterling HR83 £600 .... I did give it a try but fell far short. How many HR 8s did they make I wonder?

I heard less than 100 English