Many shoppers have very little intention of buying. It's money, it's lack of knowledge or wrong information they are married to. Some don't even know half of what they think they do. It's entertainment to them. An education. Doesn't bother me. Information can be shared and I don't mind because I learn things while listening to others. Sometimes I learn I know a lot more than they do and sometimes I learn I need to learn more. You can learn as a buyer or seller if you keep your mind open as I have learned several times.
Many years ago I had a friend who was a very serious collector of Winchester model 70's. At the time I had close to 50 and his collection made mine look like nothing. He was looking at mine for upgrades or missing items. Nothing met his needs so he was a buyer who bought nothing. He was collection in two directions, as high condition as he could get and one of every variation which becomes kind of the quest for the holy grail. His holy grail was a combination of caliber and features that they made about 250 total of. As you know rifle shooters are known to rebarrel or rechamber guns if they want to. This caliber was a bit of a dog but had been replaced by one of the sexy semi wildcats in the day. So many of that 250 were gone. He figured there might be 50 total left. I learned from him I was a semi educated collector but also how to think and what to look for.
I walked into a small gun shop in Delaware that had the holy grail sitting on the rack. Price was very low. Condition extremely good. Without smacking my lips I asked to examine the gun. Shop owner told me the typical one owner story which probably was true. Shot very little because Delaware is a shotgun only deer state. Mentioned if it was a more popular cartridge it be worth more. That caliber was not even listed in his bluebook. All information he knew which was honest but mostly wrong. If I had not been previously educated I would have put it back on the rack instead of handing over the $325.00 price after dickering him down from $350.00. You got to dicker on principle sometimes.
I sold it a few years later to my educational friend for over five grand after a short period dickering. Form must be observed. It was his holy grail and both of us would never owned it unless he took time to educate me things I thought I knew but did not. He died a couple years later and I guess his collection was quietly sold off. Never heard of that gun hitting the open market or even the rest of his collection. Who knows his widow might still own everything I've in NJ still. Wonder if she would take $325.00 for it today. I doubt she hunts deer.
