doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com need to put a value on this LC Smith

Thank you everyone

I have an L C Smith 12 gauge Grade III non ejector, double trigger, 32 inch Damascus barrels that's pictured elsewhere on the forum. I just completed having a minimal cosmetic and structural restoration done to it. If I were to sell it I would be looking in the $2,000 range.
Jim

Gunsaholic and I watch the competitive pricing reasonably closely. There is a gigantic discount attached to a gun located in Canada compared to what it may fetch in the US. Disclaimer here....I am in no way interested in this gun or any other L C Smith.

Having bought US guns and brought them up and sold into the US and watched the comparative market over the last 10 years, I would take the US estimate (we heard a range of $2000 USD from James M to a high of $3500 USD) and discount it by an absolute minimum of 30%. Especially as this is a 10 gauge. There is a tiny group of buyers who might be interested in that gun. I'm always happily willing to be proven wrong but in Canada I think that gun would sell in the $1000 to $1500 range (I'm keeping valuations in constant USD for simplicity).

We have less of a gun culture, less of a gun collecting culture, less disposable income and less than 10% of the population. You do the math.

Gunsaholic and I see this all the time. Someone checks out the Blue Book valuations or asks on this or any other site and then tries to sell the gun in the price range suggested by the American sources. Does not happen. And again, full disclosure....I have never even tried to buy one of the guns I am referring to. Canadians won't pay the money.

Camotrky, if you want to sell it, my advice would be to sell it into the US market. Getting them down there isn't all that difficult if you know what to do and for the potential difference in monies realized, might be worth it. PM me if you want to know more.

Conservatively, i would call it a $1700 to $2,000 gun USD.

Yours is a great example of a Grade 2 Smith 10-bore; but its value rests solely on demand in Canada (am assuming it might not be legal to sell to someone in the US). With 10-bores the pool of interested individuals is very limited, just as it was when the gun was originally built; and that same limited interest factor remains true today. The fact that only 444 are recorded as having ever been shipped doesn't make your gun rare, only uncommon; but it's remaining condition does serve to make yours a more rare piece among surviving examples. As FYI, Puglisi has a Grade 3 10-bore Smith in even higher condition listed on his website at $3250. Given that gun has not sold after several months, I would think $3K would be over the top for your gun. To the right collector I see your gun selling in the $1800-2500 range, but you can always advertise the gun at any price you peg and see what develops; as there are, after all, no end of dealers who place "just fishing" prices on the guns they offer for sale; and they do so because they do get a fair number of bites.
As for me personally, I'm only interested in unique 10-bores; and purchased an interesting Smith 10-bore about a year ago that would be considered a one-off. At some point after Hunter eliminated their bushed firing pin feature, someone sent a 32" set of Quality 2 Syracuse era Smith barrels to Hunter Arms with instructions to build a gun around this barrel set. Hunter took those barrels and fitted them to a new frame; a new fore iron was fitted, along with all new stock wood. The serial number assigned to, and stamped on the Syracuse era barrel set was stamped onto the new frame; and the Quality 2 grade mark on the barrels was over-stamped with the newly assigned Grade designation "O". The new frame was also grade stamped "0"; and the gun was engraved and checkered Grade "0" standard. The dealer didn't understand what this gun represented, a repair shop gun; and listed it for sale at $1295 (gun still has lots of condition). The gun did not sell at that price; and over a period of about two years he had reduced his asking to $695, a price at which I became a willing buyer.

Hey James aka canvasback; You need to clean out your messaging area as it's full.
Jim

I agree with Canvasback on the pricing in Canada. Unfortunately, I think anything above $1500.00 and I would consider myself fortunate.