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Antique Marlin Prices!

14K views 52 replies 23 participants last post by  RGR 
#1 ·
Well for almost 4 years of looking at old Marlins for sale on the on line auctions I see another price change happening. All of the best, correct Marlins with traces of case are selling in the upper 10 - 20,000 range! Were catchin up to the Winchester prices now. Leroy Mertz has some nice ones, if you have that kind of cash. Some of them don't look that good and they are still above GB prices!:flute:

Next is the correct guns with less finish. Two years ago they were a grand or so. Now asking prices are in the thousands.

I should have been buying these when I was a kid! Back in the 60's and 70's these old Marlins were dirt cheap!

Note these are asking prices, but it shows where the market is going.

Then theres the crappy looking one's all beat up and rough or modified some how. The asking prices on these rifles is about a grand now!:ahhhhh:

Who knows what the next few years will bring!!! Even vintage Lyman and Marbles sights that were made for Marlins are commanding high prices.


I would bet that most of all the surviving BEST Marlins are owned by buyers and sellers...even shooters that know exactly what theyre worth! :(

Get em while ya can boys! Soon they will be all unaffordable!

Well that's my take on it anyway! YMMV!:flute:
 
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#38 ·
I still contend, that when a guy beats up on a seller, for something on the gun that is "not correct" whether it be a replacement stock, or a less than same vintage sight, that they are simply looking for an arguing point to convince the seller to lower his price.

I would opine that 90% if the possible buyers will not know the minute details that serious collectors beat up another mans gun over.

And I believe that we have to consider the gun in question. Lets say its a typical 93, 24 inch barrel, in 30 30. Every thing else on the gun is standard, straight stock but the fore end is beyond repair. Its a 600 dollar gun as is, its a 650 dollar gun if you replace the fore end, cause then at least, a cowboy shooter can use it on weekends.

But the same gun, in takedown, and deluxe wood, and maybe obvious vintage tang sights, and a beech front, and its 32 40 rather than 30 30. And the only thing wrong with the gun, is a scratch where it hit a barb wire fence one time, or a minor blood spot, on what is otherwise, about 70% original finish.

With a gun like that "repairing" the barb wire scratch, and rebluing the barrel, is gonna irritate a bunch of serious collectors, that would rather have it all authentic and original.

If you have something common, and beat to crap, maybe reblued already, it certainly does not hurt value, to replace wood, etc. But if you have a gun, that can be documented owned by Annie Oakley, with a dinged stock, brother, dont touch the ding.:biggrin:
 
#40 ·
This issue is contentious; many collectors demand authenticity while others do not. Restoring antique or even modern firearms is an iffy proposition when it comes time to sell. I personally do not restore antiques but have restored some modern firearms.

I had to deal with this several years back when a good friend died in a plane crash and I sold his collection for his wife. Larry collected pre 1899 Cowboy arms and had many restored/refurbished at great cost. He and I talked about this several times before his untimely death and he understood that this would reduce the value of those firearms but he wanted his guns to look great and they did.

Larry loved the 38-40 caliber and his collection included 12 First Gen Colt SAAs that had been rebuilt into 38-40s plus 4 Marlin 1894s, 3 1889s and an 1888, a pair of 1873s, four 1886 Winchesters (including 2 50AEs!), three 44 S&W No 3s, 2 Webley and Green 455s, and a pair of Merwin and Hulberts plus a Spanish copy; all made before 1899 and most were restored. I still have a spectacular 1886 in 45-70 that I am loath to shoot. Larry tried to buy my 1897 numerous times but it was mine and original.

I could have sold these guns for more than we actually made (which was still considerable) if they were original and unmodified. The buyers of these restored firearms got spectacular bargains for essentially new antiques; the monies spent to restore them were lost.

The current market for Marlins is NUTS! Modern Marlins sell today for 3 or 5 times new values and antiques are going for crazy money. Restoration will make them look great and function better but keep in mind that you probably won't recover those restoration costs.

That's my opinion and I may be....

DD
 
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#44 ·
Keep the faith and keep hunting hardware where ever you can... marlins for 300-350 which are mechanically new and a bit gray on sharp edges are still available,,, you just need to look.
 
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#45 ·
Ya would have to look a long time, in this area for such a Marlin in that condition.:) Occasionally find an old lady with no internet access, nor kids nor neighbors having waited for her husband to die to "advise" her.:biggrin:
 
#52 ·
I bought an 1892 in 22, then an 1894 32-20, followed by an 1893 32-40 and last purchase was another 1893 in 38-55. I paid progressively higher, with the last one being downright unreasonable. I'd still like a couple others but the the law of diminishing returns kick in eventually and I can't be as irresponsible as the US government. Still, I don't regret any of them and I figure at 59 I didn't have that many years to wait on a good price so as I could enjoy ringing out the performance from the piece of history each one represents. So now I'm gun-broke but enjoying the process of discovery with each one. High prices suck but waiting too long can have a greater cost!
 
#53 ·
According to the column there in Gun Digest paper, where they track current gun markets, "pre 1900 guns continue to increase in prices".

I have to wonder if there is any limit, I suppose folks that can afford 15K guns it does not really matter too them, but to someone that works for their money, they should recall that 15 K guns have a very limited market and one may not find a buyer on the spot, where as a more common piece, buyers are usually as close as the local bar if push comes to shove.

What spooks me as well, if that a lot of us envisioned selling a collection near the final lap, with the ever increasing laws, etc, even passing them down to our rug rats may be illegal in some cases.

A buddy was saying just the other day, "I want to leave my 21 collection one to each child, and then my 22 collection to the grandkids (most barely out of diapers) and he has some nice stuff, but that whole plan presumes the kids and grandkids could give a flying leap about guns like he does. And they simply may not.
 
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