I was there with Pugs. The 99's, for the most part were very nice. I didn't write down prices so I'm going by memory. A fairly decent cased set fetched $1700+change. A very nice .250 G brought $675, as did an 1899F .22HP. There was a .38-55 CD to die for that went $2500+. To be honest I didn't pay much mind to the pedestrian EG's and R's. I had my sights set on something that wasn't scheduled until late in the auction, so I husbanded my cash when I shoulda/coulda/woulda taken a swing at the .250 G or the H .22HP (like I need another HP like I need another hole in the head). The 99H BB .30-30 brought $1600 as I recall. All the prices struck me as being eminently fair, mostly.
There was an 1899A TD in .25-35 that had me going for a bit. In nice original condition it would've been a fairly high dollar piece, but it was "professionally restored". Whoever did it knew what they were doing- it was very nice. But, in the end it was a re-finish job. I was attracted to it as a shooter and even though I thought maybe $700 would've been a good price, I disobeyed my instincts and bid it up to $800 at which point I reigned myself in. Another bidder took my place and ran it up to $950 where it sold. The Model 70 .22 Hornet that was yet to come tempered my "auction fever" on some of the stuff that came early (but when it finally got to the block I couldn't swing hard enough to get that one either
-$4000 )
There was a fair amount of Savage ammo, in nice boxes, from every era of Savage ammo making. It all struck me as over-bid, but I know little about the stuff. Everything was over $100, and an early red two piece box of .22HP's brought $150. I saw one box of Savage Hornets fetch $80 which caught my eye as that is exactly what I paid for the same thing last summer at the fest. Some small bits of ephemera- a perfect 1931 catalog with price list brought $95. A naked pair of Savage paper shotshells (salmon colored, 12 gauge) went for $60. The only ammo I bought was a pristine late-30's box of Winchester SuperSpeed .22HP, and had to fork over $60 for it.
They did their usual trick of auctioning a big pile of lesser grade guns (a lot of junk) simultaneous to the main auction, so I had to jump back and forth a bit as there were a couple 29-B's that caught my eye. I bid one to $300 before I had to leave to return to the main auction. It may well have been worth more but I didn't want it that badly. There was a Tenite-stocked M242[?] that I wish now I would've stayed over there for, but I need a .410 O/U hammer gun like I need an extra nose.
Pugs snagged a new-in-box Ruger #1A 6.5x55 while I was in the can, for a very fair price. We had a laugh that I would've wanted to flip a coin for who got to snag it!
All in all it was a very crowded auction, even for them. Absolutely packed, and the crowd was in a feeding frenzy.
