mawkie
C&R Whisperer
-Finally got my girlfriend moved into her new home and settled in with the last item on the honey-do list completed. While all this was going on I was pretty much sitting on the C&R sidelines for the summer. So what to do with my first weekend off in three months? Of course, go to a gun auction!
-The item of primary interest was a FN Model 1900 pistol that was missing the safety. Figured it would make a nice, easy project. Wrong. Finally getting to inspect it personally I found the magazine missing (not apparent in the single catalog photo) and that the right hard rubber grip was cracked. Jumped onto the new smart phone and quickly found that original FN 1900 mags aren't easily available so with a street value of approx. $300-350 I decided not to go beyond $175.
-But the day wasn't a disappointment because at the last minute nearly 50 items had been added to the catalog and at least three of them had me very interested.
-First was a scrubbed Japanese Type 99 with genuine (but not correct for this series) dust cover and a bayonet with scabbard. Other than the dust cover it was an all correct Nagoya 6th series built in the period spanning 1944-1945. It was sporting an original M1 carbine sling that I'm willing to bet was installed around the time of surrender. That sling had been on this gun for a very long time. What numbers I could see all matched and it was in excellent condition with some very mild surface rust and a herd of dust bunnies (even with the heavy dust you could see the sparkling hard chrome bore was perfect). Figured street value would be in the $400-450 range, depending on the value of the bayonet which isn't my strong suit.
-Second was an arsenal rebuilt MAS 36. One of the Century imports from the early 90s, it was immaculate as these usually are. Placed a $300-350 value to it.
-Third was a US marked Ross MKII*** listed as missing the bolt. What I found was that the Harris Loading Platform system had also been removed and the cutoff spring was missing. Some jackass had started to remove the original finish from the black walnut stock but had stopped at the original markings so I didn't despair, it could be addressed. A big plus was that it was sporting the original Kerr sling which is easily worth $75-100. A nice US surcharged MKII goes for around $750-800 these days so I felt a $250 value was uber conservative. Parts for MKIIs are available and there are all too many bubbafied MKIIs out there available as parts donors for around $250. Lots of potential here.
-The T99 came up early, lot #11, and was the first milsurp of the auction. I had sized up the crowd as being mostly Looky Lous, which tend to be buyers of opportunity. Best way to handle them is to remove the opportunity. So I shut the door on them with an opening bid of $200 and was shocked, as was the auctioneer, when nobody countered and it hammered at $200. My heart damned near jumped out of my chest when the gavel dropped and I realized I just STOLE this thing.
-The MAS 36 was next and I decided to pass as I've sold off all but one perfect example in my collection. Figured I would let someone else have a shot of getting nice one without a bidding war. It sold cheap for $185.
-FN 1900 then came up and I dropped out at $185 with it selling for $200. With all the issues it had it just didn't make sense to throw money at it when plenty of correct examples are available. Proud that I resisted the urge to chase the bid on this one as the auctioneer was working me hard to get a few more dollars out of me.
-The Ross was one of the last items to sell and I put in a paltry $100 opening bid. Again no counterbids! This didn't shock me as much as it does need restoration and Ross MKII rifles still suffer from the "the bolt will go through your eye" wives tales (the MKIII was the version with issues, not the MKII). Now I have a Fall project!
-Here are some other items of interest for Mosin lovers from this auction...
M91 - WWI vintage, Balkan, scrubbed, in fair condition, missing cleaning rod - $200
M44 - Post war dated 1946 in excellent condition (tiny import mark) - $200
MN T53 - Fair condition, recent billboard import mark - $120 (bought by an Amish woman no less, so neat to see her schelpping this thing around post auction)
-The item of primary interest was a FN Model 1900 pistol that was missing the safety. Figured it would make a nice, easy project. Wrong. Finally getting to inspect it personally I found the magazine missing (not apparent in the single catalog photo) and that the right hard rubber grip was cracked. Jumped onto the new smart phone and quickly found that original FN 1900 mags aren't easily available so with a street value of approx. $300-350 I decided not to go beyond $175.
-But the day wasn't a disappointment because at the last minute nearly 50 items had been added to the catalog and at least three of them had me very interested.
-First was a scrubbed Japanese Type 99 with genuine (but not correct for this series) dust cover and a bayonet with scabbard. Other than the dust cover it was an all correct Nagoya 6th series built in the period spanning 1944-1945. It was sporting an original M1 carbine sling that I'm willing to bet was installed around the time of surrender. That sling had been on this gun for a very long time. What numbers I could see all matched and it was in excellent condition with some very mild surface rust and a herd of dust bunnies (even with the heavy dust you could see the sparkling hard chrome bore was perfect). Figured street value would be in the $400-450 range, depending on the value of the bayonet which isn't my strong suit.
-Second was an arsenal rebuilt MAS 36. One of the Century imports from the early 90s, it was immaculate as these usually are. Placed a $300-350 value to it.
-Third was a US marked Ross MKII*** listed as missing the bolt. What I found was that the Harris Loading Platform system had also been removed and the cutoff spring was missing. Some jackass had started to remove the original finish from the black walnut stock but had stopped at the original markings so I didn't despair, it could be addressed. A big plus was that it was sporting the original Kerr sling which is easily worth $75-100. A nice US surcharged MKII goes for around $750-800 these days so I felt a $250 value was uber conservative. Parts for MKIIs are available and there are all too many bubbafied MKIIs out there available as parts donors for around $250. Lots of potential here.
-The T99 came up early, lot #11, and was the first milsurp of the auction. I had sized up the crowd as being mostly Looky Lous, which tend to be buyers of opportunity. Best way to handle them is to remove the opportunity. So I shut the door on them with an opening bid of $200 and was shocked, as was the auctioneer, when nobody countered and it hammered at $200. My heart damned near jumped out of my chest when the gavel dropped and I realized I just STOLE this thing.
-The MAS 36 was next and I decided to pass as I've sold off all but one perfect example in my collection. Figured I would let someone else have a shot of getting nice one without a bidding war. It sold cheap for $185.
-FN 1900 then came up and I dropped out at $185 with it selling for $200. With all the issues it had it just didn't make sense to throw money at it when plenty of correct examples are available. Proud that I resisted the urge to chase the bid on this one as the auctioneer was working me hard to get a few more dollars out of me.
-The Ross was one of the last items to sell and I put in a paltry $100 opening bid. Again no counterbids! This didn't shock me as much as it does need restoration and Ross MKII rifles still suffer from the "the bolt will go through your eye" wives tales (the MKIII was the version with issues, not the MKII). Now I have a Fall project!
-Here are some other items of interest for Mosin lovers from this auction...
M91 - WWI vintage, Balkan, scrubbed, in fair condition, missing cleaning rod - $200
M44 - Post war dated 1946 in excellent condition (tiny import mark) - $200
MN T53 - Fair condition, recent billboard import mark - $120 (bought by an Amish woman no less, so neat to see her schelpping this thing around post auction)
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