Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors John Wright's firearms to be auctioned (1st of two)

I got a 250 like that. Paid 450, but it’s not in that good of shape

Thank you

Supply and demand .

A friend sold his GMC Sierra with 56,000 miles on for $7,000 MORE than what he paid for it new because of the chip shortage .

Funny , nobody called him a shyster or scalper .

Well, he didn't drive it off the lot, turn directly around drive back onto the lot, and then sell it to the next person who pulled into the lot looking for a truck, so that's a bit of the old apples and oranges.

No it's not - because that's exactly what the new purchaser did .

Your logic has no depth to it .

It doesn't matter if HE did it , what matters is that it was done that way .

You obviously have not owned a business . The object is to make money and not to break even .

I do not, but I do manage a facility that cranks out gross quantity products. I am well aware of how expenditures and overhead vs income works.

Nice to know you get hot, tingly feelings about ripping people off, though.

(added) Also curious that you single me out for rebuttal, when I was just agreeing with already mentioned sentiments in the thread 🤔

Except that is NO demand for $1900 1950's 99R's. None. Zero. Zilch.

If there's a demand, show me a few more 99R's in 300 that sold for $1900 or above. There's a ton of 1950's 99R's in 300, so should be easy to find.

The seller's name is now worth a 25%-50% premium to any gun he sells. The gun itself wouldn't sell for that much in any other venue. In fact it just sold for 40% of what somebody paid this seller.

Do you spend 25% to 50% more for a truck because it's being sold by a nice dealer? Would you consider that sane?

Obviously rare guns fall into a different category. They are hard to find. When the RMEF gun shows up for goodness knows how much, can you blame a guy for spending that much when only 60 were made?

But it will still be far above "market value", because market value isn't set by one person. It's set by the market. A reasonable market value was set last month on a public auction.

But this was a very, very nice 99R in 300. Anybody who wants one can find one fairly easily, I've got one with a hang tag. Anybody is free to spend their money the way they want.. but $1900 is cray-cray.

I’m not singling you out , no need to get sensitive . I’m sure there’s a safe space and an extra therapy dog for you . If that doesn’t work I’m sure we can get you some Thorazine .

My post was for you AND the folks who share your sentiment .

Ripping people off would insinuate that the purchaser had a gun to his head . Like Long Beard King said : if you don’t want to spend the money , move out of the way .

There's obviously a demand if it sold .

Who cares that there is a premium associated with the sellers name ? ( full disclosure : I don't know and haven't done any business with aforementioned seller ) .

25% - 50% premium because of a nice seller ? Nope . But what is equally insane is worrying about something that is totally out of your control .

Sounds like you need a hug. Also, I hate dogs 😉

I'm sure you do .

Remember , it's not your money/labor/resources you're playing with .

And now we're back to Dick & Craig and Wildwood.

Those prices get reflected into gunshops and gunshows with folks like you, who think that Tommy Gun prices are the new market prices. That the demand for 99's is so extreme that 99R's in 300 can demand almost a $2000 price tag. So 99's get marked at 200% of their true market price, which does affect anybody who collects. And it affects those shops/sellers - because they get stuck with a gun they can't sell for what they were misled into thinking was it's value.

But nobody has said I'm worrying about anything... I've seen this circus come through town several times. I won't buy from Tommy, why should I pay the name premium? If I want something, I'll be bidding against the flipper on the online auctions who gets it for 40% of what Tommy sells it for. In fact I think UPS delivered my take today.

I never said that one auction was the new trend . To analyze the market , you need more than one data point .

You guys don't appreciate folks posting live auctions , but all you do is bash the auctions after the gavel falls with your bitching/griping/complaining about the realized prices .

Let people post live auctions and do all the above banter while it's happening to let the prospective bidders know how much the listed arm is NOT rare , has NO condition and is JUNK . This way here your perceived influence will keep a $300 rifle a $300 rifle . This way the only folks that are soured by your comments are the sellers , not the sellers and buyers .

You don't have to tell people you are worried about marked up prices , your raillery says it .

What auction is being bashed? gunsinternational.com is not, and never has been an auction site.

Are you referring to the auction prices from John's auction? I thought a few things went high, I thought some things went low, but most seemed in line with my expectations. In other words, it was a normal auction. I don't know that anybody is bashing that.

No , the fact that Tommy Gun bought the R and flipped it for $1800 ...

Don't get me wrong , you guys are undeniably a great Savage resource , but this bashing of realized prices - whether auction or full-blown retail turns a lot of folks off .

For me , I don't care either way because it affects me none . I see something I want , I buy it .

I was called crazy for spending 4K on a mint 1937 G in 250-3000 back in 2006 that looks like it just came out of the factory . I regret it none .

Did I overspend ? Maybe

I think there's some confusion..

Tommy Guns doesn't buy these guns off of proxibid. Somebody else does, and flips them through Tommy Guns. So I have NO complaints against Tommy Guns selling these guns. He runs a business, he's making money. And I don't care if somebody buys from him.. everybody has the right to spend their money on whatever they want.

But I have a lot of people I consider friends here. If any of them are tempted by Tommy Guns rifles, I think it's a nice thing to do to let them know they can buy the same exact guns for far, far less if they watch the auctions. If they want to. If their life is too busy to watch auctions or they miss one and Tommy gets it, more power to them if they buy from him.

My one pet peeve is probably the misperception that Tommy Guns prices are "market prices". It's obviously true they aren't, since most guns I see him sell I can trace back to a recent "market sale" for far less.

The ONLY reason I even posted that this 99R was sold thru Tommy Guns is because I was talking to a fellow collector on Monday who asked me if Tommy had sold any of John's guns yet. I said I had no idea, but a few hours later because of his comment I noticed that one gun had and so I posted a finished, non-auction sale here. It obviously was of interest, lots of folks commenting.

I wonder if that Tommy guy eavesdrops here. My guess would be does, and if so is laughing the whole way to the bank.

The people I really shake my head over are the saps that have more money than good sense and spend way more for stuff they just gotta have, simply because they can.

We're all guilty of that. I mean... Vintage English cars...

Have bought many guns from Tommy Guns. He only deals with consignment guns. He's a great guy to work with. I would think that some of you would be happy that he is getting the money for 99's that he is. It used to be that they were the cheap guns and this isn't 1969 anymore. Also anyone who buys from him knows that they are getting a good quality gun because that's all he sells.