Auctions, Shooting and Fishing gear, Are they now worth going to with prices and added premium costs

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, as above, I was thinking to go to Stroud Auctions Gloucestershire  tomorrow, will be an early start and an hour or more journey each way, from what I've heard people are paying more than can buy new, example Hatsan 900X estimate £40 to £60 plus 21.6% including vat, new around £100, any thoughts PW 🤔

[CaptC]

If buying at auction you must set a limit and not get "buyers fever" trying to outbid the other bidder. 

Some auctions do not charge VAT which is quite a saving, set you limit and work out the total cost(s) inc Vat and commission. 

Be very wary about an online auction if you cannot view the lots. A clever camera angle can make a rusty tin of beans look like a bar of gold! I have had some lucky bargains bidding on line but also some dreadful disapointments. 

Gun auctions - ask for a condition report if possible?

[marsh man]

I go to a few sporting auctions for more of a day , or night out rather than to buy things I have already got .

I have always been a side by side fan , nothing special just a sound work horse , now when I cast my mind back I have only ever bought one gun from a gun shop and that was my very first gun from Darlows in Norwich , that would had been in 1961 / 62 , since then every gun I had bought was either a private sale or from a auction , I know my last three guns were from a sporting auction , two are now retired and my latest one to me was a real bargain , a non ejector English gun in as new condition , paid just under £200 with the fees on top so it cost me just under £230 , some of the other guns made good money , but as I know very little about modern over and unders than good money to me might had been cheap to whoever was buying the gun .

Cartridges can and do make silly money , I have had some good buys but some will go for more than the shop price time you add the buyers fees on top .

So tread lightly and try and have a good luck at what you are thinking of buying , at the moment it is certainly a side by side buyers market , as for other guns ? , some good and some bad ones about , just make sure you don't end up with the bad ones .

GOOD LUCK  MM

[Centrepin]

I watch the Yorkshire auction house website and get emails. I've bought just once and I forgot the buyers premium plus the travel. I just broke even with shop price if you don't count my time.

I've been watching for an English or Scottish SBS hammer gun. Unfortunately they always go for more than I'm prepared to pay, much more when you add VAT, buyers premium and travel. Well over guntraders inflated prices.

It's said its a buyers market for SBSs, I don't see it at auction, only private, unless of low quality. Maybe it's auction fever? 

Over unders seem the cheapest, especially those not steel proofed. Often fetching under £100. 

Cartridges frequently fetch more than shop prices even before you add on the extras. I just don't see why.

[nobbyathome]

as marshman said treat it as a good day out and if a nice gun comes up and is a reasonable price grab it i love auctions but i dont get carried away with the bidding i set myself a limit and dont ever go over it when i have lost a bid i always kick myself later  but its better that than to get carried away there is always another auction coming up 

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, thanks for replies, it's mainly antiques and general sales I've been to before, have a list of around 20 that's of interest but could not go to todays view day, I will decide on going later, 

[oldypigeonpopper]

1 minute ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, thanks for replies, it's mainly antiques and general sales I've been to before, have a list of around 20 that's of interest but could not go to todays view day, I will decide on going later, 

Hello, if anyone has time to look on Stroud auction web site and see what you think of estimates,  i am looking at lot 1213 and 1214 Cometa air rifle, , 1116/6, Hawke scopes, not sure on cartridges, top of list page 53 lot 1647, a huglo 103 FE 20 bore,cased, estimate £100/£300 

[Vince Green]

With gun prices at a absolute rock bottom at the moment you may well pick up a real bargain.

[Keith 66]

Talking to a club member who is an rfd recently, English guns were seen as a cast iron investment that steadily appreciated he reckons the **** has dropped out of the market, You only have to look at the prices realised on some of the auction houses to see this is true.  A lady i know lost her husband recently & his fine English guns fetched a fraction of what he had thought they were worth.

A couple of years ago my mum was terminally ill in Lancaster hospital, after visiting her one day I thought i would have a shufti round Lancaster antiques market, Its located in the old cattle market, hundreds of booths & stalls covering many acres. Shed after vast shed full of brown furniture & heaps of lovely old tat that nobody wants.

Trouble is that youngsters rarely collect anything these days & the only people who you see in places like that or at telly auctions are all white haired & old, In 20 years a high proportion will be gone & the stuff will be going for recycling or landfill.

Guns are affected similarly except now theres a looming Lead ban & the prospect of more increasingly onerous legislation.

Means there are some right bargains out there!

[enfieldspares]

20 minutes ago, Keith 66 said:

Talking to a club member who is an rfd recently, English guns were seen as a cast iron investment that steadily appreciated he reckons the **** has dropped out of the market, You only have to look at the prices realised on some of the auction houses to see this is true. 

This. Very much so. I sold my single 1922 made Boss gun back in December 2021 (aware of the impending calls by BASC for a voluntary lead shot ban) and took a loss on it against what I paid in 2014 or 2015. I still came out with £4,500 cash and an AYA .410" No 4 Ejector that the dealer had priced up at £1,400. So in total value to me of £6,900. I now see that pairs of good London made guns in some well known auctions in 2022 were struggling to make this even. 

And brown furniture? Now a lot is purchased to go under a rip saw and be repurposed as something else such as these shooting trophies that I make from fired cartridges recrimped over a dowel and mounted on oak that was a old wardrobe or table or whatever else. This one is made from then wood from what was an old wardrobe the woodshop I got the wood from told me.

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by enfieldspares

[Windswept]

Ah, brown furniture, if that's early 1900s oak then that's something I buy a fair bit in the local auctions. You could pick up solid oak furniture for a few quid a few years back but recently they've been going for a fair bit more round here, I assume fashions are changing again and more people buy the stuff.

I tend to notice prices fluctuate, some auctions seem to have more people buying and the prices are high and others some stuff goes for pennies. The sporting auctions I've been to seem to have too many people with too much spare cash, the air rifles & pistols any many cartridges do seem to go for far too much. 

[marsh man]

3 hours ago, nobbyathome said:

as marshman said treat it as a good day out and if a nice gun comes up and is a reasonable price grab it i love auctions but i dont get carried away with the bidding i set myself a limit and dont ever go over it when i have lost a bid i always kick myself later  but its better that than to get carried away there is always another auction coming up 

You are a man of my own heart , up until a few years ago they used to have two sporting auctions a year at Kings Lynn on a Friday night  , the auction would start at 5pm and go on till about 10pm , when I was at work we could leave off at 3pm on a Friday so I used to go to Kings Lynn straight from work which was about 65 miles , sometimes if there wasn't much traffic I would get there just before the viewing finished and I would just be able to look at some of the stuff on the various tables , you would see just about everything and very often you would see paintings by Kenzie Thorpe and stacks of other local stuff .

One day I got there just before viewing ended and didn't have time to look at the guns , time wore on and the guns finally came up for sale , half way through the bloke raised this side by side above his head and in the catolouge it stated it was a German sawver ? 30 inch barrels , pistol grip , non ej , the auctioneer started off with 50 quid and nobody put there hand up , at the time I could had done with a cheap spare gun so I stuck my number card up , it nearly went to me and somebody went to 55 , I thought I will go one more and that would be it , I went one more and low and behold I was then the owner of a gun I hadn't even seen , when I got it I couldn't believe the condition it was in , it was spotless and looked as if it had never been fired , I started to use it and it came up a treat and very soon became my everyday gun , that gun fired many 1000s of cartridges till finally the top rib came loose and after a quick repair I carried on using it for a few more years until the day came where the bottom came adrift and the poor ole gun ended up in the melting pot , that ole gun was one of the best buys I had done at a auction and I have still got the bottom rib in my garage to remind me of all the years we spent together, what an ole softie I an becoming  

[Lampwick]

1 hour ago, marsh man said:

You are a man of my own heart , up until a few years ago they used to have two sporting auctions a year at Kings Lynn on a Friday night  , the auction would start at 5pm and go on till about 10pm , when I was at work we could leave off at 3pm on a Friday so I used to go to Kings Lynn straight from work which was about 65 miles , sometimes if there wasn't much traffic I would get there just before the viewing finished and I would just be able to look at some of the stuff on the various tables , you would see just about everything and very often you would see paintings by Kenzie Thorpe and stacks of other local stuff .

One day I got there just before viewing ended and didn't have time to look at the guns , time wore on and the guns finally came up for sale , half way through the bloke raised this side by side above his head and in the catolouge it stated it was a German sawver ? 30 inch barrels , pistol grip , non ej , the auctioneer started off with 50 quid and nobody put there hand up , at the time I could had done with a cheap spare gun so I stuck my number card up , it nearly went to me and somebody went to 55 , I thought I will go one more and that would be it , I went one more and low and behold I was then the owner of a gun I hadn't even seen , when I got it I couldn't believe the condition it was in , it was spotless and looked as if it had never been fired , I started to use it and it came up a treat and very soon became my everyday gun , that gun fired many 1000s of cartridges till finally the top rib came loose and after a quick repair I carried on using it for a few more years until the day came where the bottom came adrift and the poor ole gun ended up in the melting pot , that ole gun was one of the best buys I had done at a auction and I have still got the bottom rib in my garage to remind me of all the years we spent together, what an ole softie I an becoming  

I used to love that auction. Got a few bargains there. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Lampwick

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, Lampwick said:

I used to love that auction. Got a few bargains there. 

There might had been the odd time we were bidding against each other , if we were you can rest assure we wasn't parting with a lot of money 😉 , when I retired I often used my bus pass to have a day out in Kings Lynn and to put a few items in the auction , as luck would have you could drop the items off at G Collings estate agents office which was just down the road from the bus station , just seeing the good looking young lady in the office was well worth the two hour bus ride , Happy days .

[oldypigeonpopper]

9 hours ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, as above, I was thinking to go to Stroud Auctions Gloucestershire  tomorrow, will be an early start and an hour or more journey each way, from what I've heard people are paying more than can buy new, example Hatsan 900X estimate £40 to £60 plus 21.6% including vat, new around £100, any thoughts PW 🤔

Hello, All being well I'm up at 5 am , always a bit slow getting ready in the mornings 🙄 but hoping I will get there about 9 , starts at 10, thanks for replies 👍

Edited February 8, 2023 by oldypigeonpopper

[CaptC]

Best of luck Gordon, if you see a Holland and Holland or Purdey for around £20 please buy it for me and I will square up with you later 

[marsh man]

58 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, All being well I'm up at 5 am , always a bit slow getting ready in the mornings 🙄 but hoping I will get there about 9 , starts at 10, thanks for replies 👍

Is there anything you are interested in ? , most of them have a viewing day the day before the auction or prior to the sale starting , find out what the buyers fees are before bidding as most of them now are around 20 % , that will work out another £10 on a £50 bid for a slab of shells and £40 on a £200 gun .

GOOD LUCK and enjoy your day out      MM

[Pushandpull]

Once again great reminiscences from MM. Friday afternoon in King's Lynn half the shooters in West Norfolk must have knocked off early for a poke about in the lots with a ham roll plus tea, and good craic.  I recall once removing a foreign gun from the rack and taking it apart. Could I get it together ?  Next thing an acquaintance roared out from across the room : "Yer've brok it ya ****** - you'll hev to pay !!  Red face as about fifty people turned and stared !  Good times.

 

[oldypigeonpopper]

1 hour ago, marsh man said:

Is there anything you are interested in ? , most of them have a viewing day the day before the auction or prior to the sale starting , find out what the buyers fees are before bidding as most of them now are around 20 % , that will work out another £10 on a £50 bid for a slab of shells and £40 on a £200 gun .

GOOD LUCK and enjoy your day out      MM

Hello, was viewing today, if I can get there around 9 I have an hour to look, I can get an auction listing about £2 , I've got a few things to look at that early bidding, there's 2 Cometa air rifles, some Hawke scopes, I think the PCPs will go way over my estimate, just looking for a 177, not sure about shotguns or cartridges, don't really need either, will see how it goes, 21.6% including vat , will take my calculator 🤔😁

[CaptC]

🙄🤞

[simcgunner]

Here in the States I attended an Auction last week. mostly rare and and antique Guns. They took 2. 8 million dollars gross.T were some very nice  English best Guns but the stars where a couple of Parker small bores a 28 GA and a .410 that went for Plus 100,000 ea. I picked up a tolley 4 bore.(no.191 in catalogue) If you would like to see what good Guns are going for go to Guyette And Deeter auctions and look at prices made. 

Edited February 9, 2023 by simcgunner

[tonyshooter]

I have bought a few guns from auction in the last 3 years and I have done very well compared with what gunshops are asking for them ( and they cant sell them at their prices ! ).

 

Holts have  been great with the condition reports that I have requested.

 

Just like e bay I set myself a price limit, which includes fees and RFD 2 RFD transfers, and I walk away when this limit is exceeded.

 

I am currently looking for 2 English SXS shotguns both SLE in .410 ga and 20 ga so I am eagerly watching the auctions.

 

[marsh man]

12 hours ago, Pushandpull said:

Once again great reminiscences from MM. Friday afternoon in King's Lynn half the shooters in West Norfolk must have knocked off early for a poke about in the lots with a ham roll plus tea, and good craic.  I recall once removing a foreign gun from the rack and taking it apart. Could I get it together ?  Next thing an acquaintance roared out from across the room : "Yer've brok it ya ****** - you'll hev to pay !!  Red face as about fifty people turned and stared !  Good times.

 

What a small world we are living in P and P , who knows we might had been standing next to each other and having a yarn , you could talk to anyone up there and they were all on the same wave length , some of the early ones I went to the lady in the small tea room would give you the rolls that were left over later on during the night free of charge , getting a seat was priority as it was a long ole night standing , even longer when you had to shout your surname out before they got modern and issued bat numbers , in the early days the q was quite long to get your bought items when the auction was over and one night I bought a stick with a antler on the top and a couple of books , rather than stand in the q for half an hour I asked the bloke if I could pick them during the week at his office , yep no problem , so later the following week we had a day out on the bus and I walked down to the office and picked them up , nobody was in there apart from the nice helpful young lady .

One item you might had been interested in was a well made to scale a Breydon gun punt on a stand , I looked at it and thought if it went for under £50 I would buy it , it was about a foot long if I remember rightly and when it came up it made around £100 and I saw the bloke who bought it and told him I was interested in that ,but although it was no doubt worth it I couldn't afford paying all that and he said he would had bought it at whatever it went for , who made it ? I didn't find out and I am glad it went to a good home . Happy days indeed 

[MrPhantom]

18 hours ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, was viewing today, if I can get there around 9 I have an hour to look, I can get an auction listing about £2 , I've got a few things to look at that early bidding, there's 2 Cometa air rifles, some Hawke scopes, I think the PCPs will go way over my estimate, just looking for a 177, not sure about shotguns or cartridges, don't really need either, will see how it goes, 21.6% including vat , will take my calculator 🤔😁

Hope you had more luck than I did, thought I would get some bargain cartridges as I've got a sim day coming up. Was outbid on 750 Express Super lights which went for gun shop prices 🙄

[oldypigeonpopper]

2 hours ago, MrPhantom said:

Hope you had more luck than I did, thought I would get some bargain cartridges as I've got a sim day coming up. Was outbid on 750 Express Super lights which went for gun shop prices 🙄

Hello, I never made it ,🙄 out early only to find my motor had a flat battery 🙄, had to buy a new jump starter as my old one stopped working 🙄 so not a good day 🤔, I just wanted one of the Cometa air rifles and a few other items but from what you say almost certainly most went over estimate ,