Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Herb Houze
each and every gun in the collection is itemized and valued and kept on record with the insurance company and agent. These policies normally have provisions allowing for coverage even when the guns are on exhibit at a show and in transit. Should a loss occur, settlements are normally quicker and are generally for the amount on the scheduled list. It is, of course, quite necessary to continually update the schedule as prices change, or as items are bought or sold. Coverage under Fine Arts policies has not only been found to be broad in scope, but often features advantageous rates. They are well worth investigating.
APPRAISALS
Professional appraisals are often important in establishing values for antique and collectors’ guns. Such evaluations are specified requirements for some insurance policies, for any estate and gift tax purposes, for tax plans of various types and damage and loss claims. They play an important role in determining originality of a collector’s item, by supplying a professional opinion in writing.
The key to acceptability of the values or opinions stated in an appraisal by the party to whom they are submitted are the credentials and background of the appraiser. It is a simple matter to find anyone with the slightest knowledge of guns and have them write an evaluation, pulling figures out of the air so to speak; all that is needed is a typewriter and paper. However, the collector should well understand and remember that those evaluations are subject to review by quite a few official parties before acceptability and that one of the major features scrutinized is the credentials of the appraiser; his experience within the field of guns (not merely a general antiques appraiser) and his reputation are principal factors. Major appraisers associations are able to furnish lists of recognized experts whose specialty is firearms. A number of well-known dealers in the antique arms field are quite well qualified and handle evaluations as part of their normal business routine. Appraisal fees vary considerably and are dependent upon the qualifications and credentials of the appraiser, his expertise and professional affiliations, and, of course, his location. Fees are often based upon hourly and daily rates or on a flat rate based on quantity involved. The common practice of charging a percentage of the appraised value of the item or collection is looked upon unfavorably. It is no longer in use by most major auction houses and is actually forbidden in the bylaws of some major appraisers’ associations.
RULES OF THE GAME— THE COLLECTOR’S ETIQUETTE
A few basic rules should be strictly observed and adhered to when dealing with fellow collectors or handling firearms. These canons are based on plain, common sense, but it is surprising how many times they are broken unthinkingly. The briefest and simplest admonition and one which smacks of rural New England is “... keep your mouth shut and your hands in your pockets.” Not only does this make sense, but since knowledge and experience are key elements of success in collecting, quite a bit can be learned by doing just that!
For starters, obey the most cardinal rule of them all—never point a gun, be it flintlock or otherwise, at anybody. Next most often heard and important rule of etiquette is never snap a hammer on any gun, modern or antique. Manners aside, snapping a hammer may do irreparable damage; metal striking metal can often break and replacement parts rarely exist. Sometimes the maxim, “He who breaks it, owns it” would be applicable, a speedy means of purchasing a piece that was neither desired nor affordable. If necessary to test the mechanical functioning of a gun and permission has been granted by the owner, then and only then is the hammer cocked. When the trigger is pulled, the hammer is let gently forward into its “off” or “fired” position, either by the thumb or by the other hand. This very same rule applies to the handling or mechanical functioning of any gun, antique or modern. Permission should first be obtained from the owner to even pick a piece up, and permission received before testing any mechanical function. Better still is to ask the owner to demonstrate the weapon himself.
When permission is granted for handling a firearm, it is important to do so properly. The hold should be on the wooden stock or grips; when this is not possible and the fingers must touch metal, the sides of the fingers (rather than the tips) should be used, at best they should be used gingerly. Fingers, and especially finger tips, leave a rust-causing residue; some individuals do so greater than others, leaving a trail of carnage behind.
Don’t be a cowboy with another’s guns. Spinning cylinders is decidedly bad manners and potentially harmful; score marks may be caused on the cylinder periphery. Spinning guns Western style is as silly as it is hazardous. When the pistol drops, it may break both itself and the collector’s toe, to boot. A few other senseless stunts which should be consistently avoided (and which indicate complete unfamiliarity and lack of etiquette) are the rapid and needless working of the breech of lever-action rifles TV Western style, the careless placement of a gun after viewing and handling (when longarms fall over they often tend to break the stock) and the shouldering and reshouldering of longarms as if they were to be fired or as if buying a new shotgun for field use. The latter, especially at a gun show, is tantamount to making a bloody nuisance of oneself and besides, an innocent bystander is likely to be poked in the head!
A subject on which to tread lightly and exercise restraint and common sense is money. If in a dealer’s shop or at a show, a gun is marked with a price, the game is everybody’s. If a gun is in a personal collection or “for exhibit only” the subject of values could be quite personal. To ask anyone, whether collector or dealer, how much they paid for it is completely out of order; that is nobody’s business but their own. It is possible to ask how much they feel the piece is worth—even when it is not for sale— but only discretion and good judgment and, of course, the circumstances surrounding the question can suggest if the time is proper for such an inquiry. The essence of gun trading can be reduced to its very simplest denominator as that of engaging in friendly sociable relations while maintaining self-discipline and respect for another person’s taste and property.
RESEARCH COME TO NAUGHT
A phenomenon all too common to this arms hobby is the disheartening frequency with which arms specialists, who have spent much of their collecting careers accumulating extensive research data, pass away before that valuable information is published or shared with fellow collectors. The commonness of such distressing instances appears inordinate in this arms field. I am aware of, and have personally collaborated with, numerous collectors over the years whose all-consuming interest and sole objective, fostered through years of study and handling antique firearms, was to commit that knowledge to writing and see it published. Their collecting experiences were broad in scope, often unique, having had access to innumerable antique arms no longer easily available; a firsthand knowledge through practical experiences seldom attainable. Yet, all too many of those lifetime projects were not carried through to a reasonable (and all too often, promised) conclusion; nor were those interminable accumulations of research documents passed along to others. All were merely forgotten, lost and irretrievable, much to the regret and sorrow of fellow collectors, many of who had been kept on tenterhooks in anticipation of seeing their collaborative efforts ultimately realized.
Aside from innate procrastination, it is suspected the source of inactivity rests with a simple piece of blank white paper! Assembling the vast treasury of notes, documents and raw material was relatively easy by comparison; both challenging and satisfying. Transposing that same material, in even the simplest format as a starting point, became for many a major roadblock. That appears to have particularly been the case for those who never previously faced the ultimate hurdle of the researcher, i.e. committing that knowledge to paper (or, the blank screen of a computer). It would be presumptuous (and ingenuous) to offer here suggestions to easily defeat that intimidating blank sheet of paper in order to get such a project underway. For a collector facing the prospect of such an obstacle, the mere knowledge that it exists and is easily overcome may offer especial incentive. You can take it from one who’s been there; its worth giving it a shot!
LOADED GUNS: Safety Advice
Although instances are few and far between, the occasional loaded (part or full) antique firearm rears its ugly head. In the author’s experience they are mostly found in single or double barrel muzzle-loading, percussion shotguns/fowling pieces; guns that, in their day, were kept easily accessible in readiness for an unwanted intruder. The need never presenting