mawkie
C&R Whisperer
-Back in the early 90s I was trolling the Frederick Silverado show with fellow collecting buddy Zeebill when we ran across an odd M91/30 on a table. It sported a "H" Mauser style upper barrel band. We were both new to the MN world and immediately thought "bubba's work". Later we found that we had passed on a rare Simonov Trials rifle! That story still dogs me to this day.
-Fast forward to 3 weeks ago when I run across a Simonov Trials rifle in a large live/online auction up on Proxibid. At this point it's running under the radar as a simple M91/30. With all the acquisitions I've had lately I only have around $1K available in fun money. So I decide to go all in with what I have and cross my fingers that it's enough. Silly me! Sure enough, the morning of the auction I'm out bid by one increment and it hammers for that. In the end the successful bidder paid $1350 for it. Don't know if that's good or bad (h2u and airborne trooper should be able to tell me) as these come to market rarely. Doubt I'll see another in what's left of my collecting lifetime.
-But there were two items on my short list in the same auction. A nice, honest Winchester 1903 in VG condition and an arsenal reworked Japanese Type 26 revolver. Had been searching extensively for both. So tossed a coin and the decision was made to make a run at the T26. In the end I got it for a very good price, roughly $300 under the current market average of $850. Am posting auction photos for now. Like all my Japanese handguns this one begs for a holster and so the search starts (gotta sharpen my eyes to be able to discern the difference between the French 1895 holster as it's almost identical to the Japanese Type 26).
-Fast forward to 3 weeks ago when I run across a Simonov Trials rifle in a large live/online auction up on Proxibid. At this point it's running under the radar as a simple M91/30. With all the acquisitions I've had lately I only have around $1K available in fun money. So I decide to go all in with what I have and cross my fingers that it's enough. Silly me! Sure enough, the morning of the auction I'm out bid by one increment and it hammers for that. In the end the successful bidder paid $1350 for it. Don't know if that's good or bad (h2u and airborne trooper should be able to tell me) as these come to market rarely. Doubt I'll see another in what's left of my collecting lifetime.
-But there were two items on my short list in the same auction. A nice, honest Winchester 1903 in VG condition and an arsenal reworked Japanese Type 26 revolver. Had been searching extensively for both. So tossed a coin and the decision was made to make a run at the T26. In the end I got it for a very good price, roughly $300 under the current market average of $850. Am posting auction photos for now. Like all my Japanese handguns this one begs for a holster and so the search starts (gotta sharpen my eyes to be able to discern the difference between the French 1895 holster as it's almost identical to the Japanese Type 26).