[intensity247]

Anyone know of a reputable firearm appraiser in the central pa area....or any to stay away from?

My boss' father left literally a basement full of guns when he passed and her and her sisters families are not into firearms at all, have not idea what they are and would like to get an idea of what they are worth before getting rid of them. All she knows is that most are older military (both long guns and handguns) but there are also some hunting rifles and shotguns. I have not seen them yet but am going to try and get over the check them out and help them as much as I can with it.....and hopefully end up with a few

Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[Retired_Rusty]

http://www.reddingauction.com/

They are north of Gettysburg, on Table Rock Rd.

 

[GermanHillHunter]

Get someone to put them on gunbroker for them. They will get what they are worth if not more. It's a good site for sellers. I'm sure you already know that.

 

[Marc Ret]

Unless the cumulative value of the collection is very high, they would probably be better off consigning to a local auction house. As already suggested, Redding's would be a good place to start. Horst Auctions in Lebanon county is another. I believe Horst's commission is 20%. Not sure about Redding's. Considerably less hassle having an auction house sell the entire lot as opposed to appraising each individual firearm and trying to sell one at a time.

If there are highly valuable firearms such as some Lugers, they may be better off consigning them to a large auction house like James Julia's. Doubtful there are any of those though.

The owner of Classic Firearms in Camp Hill buys estates as well. IMO, he's fair in his assessment but remember, he is buying to resell them. The last estate that I know he purchased was from the Hempt family (Hempt quarries).

 

[bpashunt]

+1 for Redding's

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I have had some bad experiences with Reddings long in the past and will not ever let them make a penny on my business.

Still it depends on what they are. Some collections will bring high money locally and some specialized collections are worth more at a specialty auction or even sold spread out over several weeks to avoid temporarily saturating the market.

An acquaintance inherited several dozen high end competition target rifles, She consigned them to an auction house and all were sold in one night. After the first few, they brought less than a third of what they were worth. Such guns should have been sold off over time and perhaps at a specialty gun auction house. Even too many run of the mill guns at one time will depress the prices.

One local auctioneer was consigned some guns and sold them at an auction. A relative who attended wanting to buy a model 12 shotgun said it brought over $800.00 and was out of his budget. When the sale itemization came back to the widow, the model 12 was listed as being sold for $80.00. The family was furious and the complaint with the police and auction licensing agency is still pending.

 

[Kebco]

+2 for Reddings

 

[Kebco]

I have had some bad experiences with Reddings long in the past and will not ever let them make a penny on my business.

Tried to PM you, but you are over your PM limit

 

[gentleben]

Contact one of our mods...Joe The Logger..... I believe he is an appraiser

 

[intensity247]

Thanks for all the input guys! I've been passing it on to them and they are talking it over to decide what they are going to do. Thinking they are probably going contact an auction house. I'm hoping to get over next week to take a look at what all they have.