Value over time???

[MountainMan]

ACP - I know where you are coming from and I respect it for most of my "knife friends" collect custom knives as you do, and I once did.  In fact many also collect quality guns.  I built a house two years ago in a century plus old forest with many trees nine foot around and over a half mile to the road.   So I sold all of my unused collecting knives for $20,000 and bought a Bobcat which I use to pick up logs, plow and etc.  All of the custom knives I still have I now carry and use.  In fact Tony Bose and his son Reese are thrilled when they find someone who actually uses their knives.   Of course if you lose one .......  Take care and happy collecting - maybe if you go to the Blade Show next year we can get together.

[ACP]

MountainMan: The guys whose knives I have collected agree with Tony and Reese; they love to see their knives carried. I have collected Don Hanson III, Warren Osborne, Joe Kious and Joel Chamblin. Slipjoints are my favorites although I do confess a weakness for automatics too.

My toy collection has to pay for itself. I have sold a lot of guns and knives in order to change direction,trade up, etc.

My firearm sales have been money makers whereas the return on knives is at or near what I paid for them.

[MountainMan]

ACP - I'm a slipjoint guy also and I use and carry them all - what I carry depends on my mood of the day (Bose boys, Chamblin, Shadley, Rogers, Cover, Tomes).  I guess this quest for quality handmade items is what has drawn me to the Seecamp I now carry and the R9S I hope to carry since they are as close as you can get to handmade in handguns right from the factory.

Since this thread is on collecting value it is hard sometimes to put a value on something handmade.  I have 13 handmade black powder rifles and pistols - handmade down to the screws.   All made by my father-in-law who has passed away - he was a real craftsman.  I plan on keeping several of the traditional styles and selling the ones made for competition - most of which are unfired or only fired once.  The question is how do you put a reasonable value on an item that could have taken a year to make during hundreds of hours.

[R9SCarry]

[size=13]The question is how do you put a reasonable value on an item that could have taken a year to make during hundreds of hours.[/size]

MM - I think here - sharing your thinking on the huge input of work - I'd only offer such items at very (sensibly) high prices - reflecting the labor and skill involved.  True - not many would bite but, instance the knife connoiseur, there are folks who know what is good and what matters, and are prepared to pay good prices.

Last thing you can do is ''give'' them away - I put great store by folk's labors - having done this myself with stuff I have made.  My thinking is - there is part of as man's life in object ''x'' - it has a value - a high value.

Hope you can get the return those firearms should merit - even if a longer process and requiring some patience.  Of course - take good pics and show them off - plus, add your own form of provinence too.

[MountainMan]

Thanks for the advice Chris - the man who made those guns was a perfectionist and had a walking handicapp - so he took great pride in the guns he made - they are just collecting dust and I hope they will find a home with someone who will use them - a blackpowder gun he made for someone has won national competitions - it is harder to place a value on something made by a family member but I'm not in a rush.

[ACP]

MountainMan:

Ditto what has been said as to the fact that these rifles were made by a family member. However, the collectibles arena is cold and there is an expression "you can't sell sentiment". In other words, if you decide to sell any of the rifles, their value will have to stand on the merits of their workmanship.

The only manner in which the value and sentiment may be retained is if you decide to keep them as heirlooms. That's the way it works. I personally would not wish to part with them and if you sell any of them, go to a reputable source as there are lot of vultures out there
 
Could you post pictures of them? I do not have an interest in purchasing any of them but I have a great appreciation of hand made items and I really enjoy your story.

Thank you.

[MountainMan]

Thanks ACP for the feedback.  Since her dad was the maker it is my wife's decision to only keep the traditional and not the ones that look like olympic competition rifles and pistols except they are flintlock or percussion - maybe she will change her mind since needing money isn't a pressing need.  Don't have a digital camera yet - plan to get one for my trip to Alaska in several months.  Maybe by then a R9S will somehow find its was into my hands for a posting.   Take care.

[ACP]

Dave: Trip to Alaska? You have all the right moves. I'm from the northeast where gun laws are strict with population density instead of wide open spaces. Instead of having to conform to strict gun laws, to and from the shooting range, my fantasy is to be able to shoot (safely) in the big country.

I have many west coast business trips to my credit and when I fly over Colorado, Utah and eastern California dessert, I end up drooling on myself fantasizing about the ability to shoot outdoors without State Police haluing you off to jail

My favorite trip was to Salt lake City in which I managed to get some free time in the Wasatch Mountains.  It was stunning but all my guns were 2000 miles away.

[MountainMan]

ACP  I could go outside my door and shoot away with no problem.  I own enough property in a heavily wooded forest area that there is no problem.  To bad everyone can't do this.  I'm looking forward to seeing Alaska.  Some of my best wilderness memories are canoe trips to northern Canada.  Talk about "Value over time"!!  You put your canoe on a train and pull the rope when you want it to stop or drive 200 miles on a old logging path with a four wheel drive to where you want to start on the water.  Then you either make it back or you don't.  Laying in the sleeping bag with the northern lights overhead - eating fish caught from artic fed rivers and lakes - it makes you rethink what is really of value in life.  Then there was the time the huge bear decided to take a shit in the middle of the night two feet from my head.  I think that knife I had in the sleeping bag with me must have my fingerprints imbedded in the handle from griping it so hard.

[MountainMan]

Sorry ACP meant to say the bear decided "to take a shit in the middle of the night two feet from my head"   --  not "take a nuts .."

So in conclusion this thread is on "Value over time"  and as you get older you realize the best Value over time is time itself to experience life.

[MountainMan]

I think I was typing it right and it keeps saying nuts so there must be a filter - so instead of "nuts" put in "poop"

[ACP]

MountainMan: It finally makes sense. Nuts is a euphemism for what the bear did. The forum disallows your initial word.

Your outdoor experiences sound great. For me, the great outdoors means vacation. Where I live, if shopping malls were bears, I'd be in trouble of having one nuts on me.