mawkie
C&R Whisperer
-There are times when I struggle over whether it's prudent to pursue an item over condition. Usually it's not that hard to walk away from a firearm that has been badly humped. This time it was not so cut and dry.
-The item in question was a badly buffed and reblued but extremely rare Japanese purchase FN 1910 with a lanyard ring installed by a Japanese arsenal. I already have one in the collection what was rare enough to be listed in a prominent FN collector's reference work. One of only three I had ever seen in 40 years (Collectors Firearms sold one for $1500 a while ago). So when this one pop'd up it got bookmarked. As the auction closing approached bidding was weak, for obvious reasons. I doubt anyone else knew just how rare it was or decided the rough refinish was a deal breaker.
-So with less than an hour to go I decided to roll the dice as I had horded a spare Japanese holster in hopes of finding another FN. Luckily I didn't pay much for it in the end because it was even worse than the dark photos showed. Made me wonder what this puppy looked like before someone decided it needed a new finish. Two of the other 1910s I've seen with lanyard rings, including mine, obviously spent lots of time in a jungle with rough finishes. So not exactly shocked over the (wrong) decision to rework it. But at least I have another rig that might be decent trading fodder down the road (it's mechanically VG, wouldn't be scared to shoot it).
-The item in question was a badly buffed and reblued but extremely rare Japanese purchase FN 1910 with a lanyard ring installed by a Japanese arsenal. I already have one in the collection what was rare enough to be listed in a prominent FN collector's reference work. One of only three I had ever seen in 40 years (Collectors Firearms sold one for $1500 a while ago). So when this one pop'd up it got bookmarked. As the auction closing approached bidding was weak, for obvious reasons. I doubt anyone else knew just how rare it was or decided the rough refinish was a deal breaker.
-So with less than an hour to go I decided to roll the dice as I had horded a spare Japanese holster in hopes of finding another FN. Luckily I didn't pay much for it in the end because it was even worse than the dark photos showed. Made me wonder what this puppy looked like before someone decided it needed a new finish. Two of the other 1910s I've seen with lanyard rings, including mine, obviously spent lots of time in a jungle with rough finishes. So not exactly shocked over the (wrong) decision to rework it. But at least I have another rig that might be decent trading fodder down the road (it's mechanically VG, wouldn't be scared to shoot it).
