Originally Posted by
gunny6
Johnny..so I guess what your telling me is..if Alvin White engraved my Colt while sitting at the Colt factory it`s good..But if he engraved it in his own studio it`s ruined ???
I think the point I was trying too make is, if you look up the history of a firearm to make up a letter, why should the contents of the letter raise the price ??
Well, it is the story of the pistol, but a bit more than that. It is the certified story of the pistol (something that is very often impossible to do for the pistol once it leaves the factory). Never buy the story, only buy the pistol--except when the story is document and bona fide
Now I do agree that it is a little silly that one engraved by Colt would be MORE valuable, and one that was engraved by a master engraver just after it left the factory would be worth less. But I think that less is in relation to the more of a factory engraving, provided you find the right collector.
Generally, I think engraving (or any customization) would lessen the price for most collectors, but increase the price to a very few special collectors. Having the engraving done by Colt means that the pistol is engraved and "as sold" by Colt. That makes it special indeed. It is customized, but done in a way that very few could do (no matter how good, talented, or famous the after market engraver). A bit silly, yes. But then you are talking about the value added by the desire of collectors, and they are allowed to go by whatever rules they desire.
Now having said that, I think that an after market engraved pistol could still be of much greater value than an un-engraved one, depending on the engraving AND very much depending on the buyer!
But I am speaking in terms of collecting in general, and have absolutely no knowledge about firearm collecting in particular. So you can just ignore what I say as I am only guessing.
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Rick
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." Thomas Jefferson
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