doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com General Discussion: Case Color % Calculations

Do you count the protected areas like the forearm metal interior and the flats? If you count these, what % do you add for them? Do you count weak case colors or only bright colors?

I was in a discussion with a Colt SAA collector and his ways differ from mine.

I thought it might make for an interesting discussion.

personally - i think it is too subjective a number to rely on

how weak is weak -in room light? bright sun?

good case, no case, some case, in protected areas - are as good as most sellers can get

pictures matter more than a guess at percentages IMHO

I would agree especially when a gun with no case can be either near mint or a complete wreck. But the Blue book bases its values on case color.

The Blue Book also provides examples in the front of their book to help evaluate condition according to their standards. I just looked at a gun with fading and worn case colors on the top, sides, and lockplates, and absolutely nothing on the bottom of the action and trigger plate. The seller said he felt it had 80% case colors remaining.

Personally, I think the seller is nuts. If I bought an old car, the fact that it had perfect paint under the hood and inside the trunk would mean very little if the exterior was very worn and faded.

What % would anyone add (or not) for 100% colors in the protected areas (flats/inside forearm)?

None IMHO. It is nice to see them though...Geo

I thought protected areas referred to: behind breech balls, around trigger guard, under top lever, and that flats, forarm etc would be "hidden areas"

sellers count all color they can find, in order sell for highest price.

buyers count only color found on exposed surfaces, in order to convince seller that price should be lowered.

actual sell price is usually somewheres in between...

I look at it a bit differently than most, and my percentages would probably be lower than many. Here's how I evaluate it. Let's say we have a gun that has no color worn through to silver areas, none. However, the 90 year old colors are faded badly, as compared to how they look under the barrels on the forend iron. I evaluate the percent they have faded, let's say 40%. So, we're already down to a 60% level on a gun with no silvered areas. Now, if the gun were to have worn through areas from carrying, etc., I then deduct the percentage that is like that from the 60%. So, if we have a gun with 60% of the original color brightness, and 15% of total case colored area that is worn through, I would call it 45% colors.

As I said, that's probably not how most of the world sees it.

SRH

I guess the best method is an exact and thorough description...with photos.