Commemorative Guns Market.

[Kerplow]

I have a chance to get this pistol for considerably less than the price on the website. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of showpiece guns, unless they have an actual history. I'm considering buying based solely upon resale value and a quick turnaround. How well do guns like this hold their value, and are there really a lot of people out there jumping to own one?

[cannon]

As a generality. Commemorative Colt pistols usually sell for less than regular Colt pistols.

They are bought to be unshot so rare they are not.

I have bough unfired Colts like this to use as shooters to save money.

[Oceanbob]

I don't any value in that Colt. An unknown company cranks out 2500 of them at 2 grand a pop for making money only.

It might be different if the COLT Firearms company did this sort of thing but this is a private unknown company.

To me the .45 would be worth about $800 and it would be a Shooter, not a collector piece.

JMO

Bob

[tozan]

Both posts above have a lot of truth to them. In many cases the market is very narrow and hard to find the right buyer if there even is one.

[Mr. Beretta]

Both posts above have a lot of truth to them. In many cases the market is very narrow and hard to find the right buyer if there even is one.

100% correct!

[Jeff L]

I think unmolested guns in a display with a photo and documentation would be better.

[Kerplow]

Thanks for the info. looks like I'll be passing on this one.

[Merc1138]

Things like this remind me of all of those commemorative coin sets and stuff you see on TV all the time for only 2 easy payments on $19.95. With some very rare exceptions(like the limited New Zealand Starwars coin set), they rarely become worth any more than what you spend on them. I've actually seen one of these specific 1911's in person and it does look a bit better than the image on that website makes it appear, but there just isn't anything really special about it.

For everything being in such limited quantity, that website sure has a hard time selling out their inventory. There just isn't much of a market for a basic 1911 that's been engraved and had a bunch of gold and silver inlay done when there are some real collectible custom pieces out there, and others in the $2500 range that look good and are still meant to be shot.

[cannon]

Thanks for the info. looks like I'll be passing on this one.

Why? If you want a brand new Colt .45 offer your friend $700-800 and take it to the range. You can't go wrong.

[Malmon]

I recently bought this same gun. I figure the lowest priced Colt 1911 Gov't model should be worth at least $700 to $800 + engravings with 24k gold and silver platings maybe around $200 to $250 (I based that on front strap checkering prices) + the presentation wooden box maybe around $20 to $50. So total is around $1k. Its a beautiful and unique gun, but don't know how it shoots. I just put it in the back of the safe and will probably give it to my son on his 18th birthday.

[Kerplow]

Why? If you want a brand new Colt .45 offer your friend $700-800 and take it to the range. You can't go wrong.

The guy wants $1400 for it. He's not a gun guy and has no idea what it's worth or how to go about selling it. I might throw him an offer of $800, but I have no idea how he acquired it or what he payed. He also offered $100 if i could find him a buyer, but it's not really worth my time to list an overpriced gun for a guy I barely know. I really should talk to him and find out what he payed and give him a little bit of info on the reality of it's worth, though.

[Tanner68]

Having tracked sales at the big the big national auction houses,(Greg Martin, RIA, James D Julia), I have noticed that commemorative guns sell for about the same price as a plain Jane gun in the same condition.