Anyone who hasn't made a trip to Duluth MN and kicked back at Puglisi's Gun Emporium hasn't lived the full fine-gun experience. You can shoot your wallhangers and hang out at the Vintage Cup, but Pug's gunshop is the closest you'll come to experiencing the ambiance of a Victorian Bond Street gun seller in London. And now there are luxury apartments topside for visiting dignitaries, lords of the manor, and other royalty. I was there in June as he was completing his expansion from the pre-existing quarters in the old bank into the adjoining building, and it would have taken a week just to fondle the fine old guns of all makers...yet I have never spent a dime...still, I have been responsible for some guns finding new owners.
My thesis on gun buying was well stated in my Parker Guns: The "Old Reliable" (1997, 2004), and in several magazine articles, which paraphrased has always been: Top-of-the-line dealers like HC, TG, JP, IB, LD, SB, SC, and, until he retired, Don Crisswell, have justly deserved reputations to protect; plus they tend to get their hands on the guns that collectors ought to want and need. Bottom feeders who hope to buy a rare collectible under the market are almost always at risk. According to John Ruskin (1819-1900), an oft quoted 19th century economist:
"It is unwise to pay too much, but it's unwise to pay too little. When you pay too much you lose a little money, that's all. When you pay too little you sometimes lose everything.... If you deal with the lowest bidder, it's wise to add something for the risk you run and if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better."
It has been my experience that the well-known dealers often have higher prices on guns that occasionally are similiarly described by the bottom dwellers (on Internet sites or at gun shows), but when the close comparasons are made, I'll go with the likes of HC, TG, JP and the other "top guns" every time. Don Criswell once insisted on sending me a Parker AAH on approval, because he thought it would strike my responsive chord (no money changed hands befdore he sent it). I received the gun and upon examination could not bear to send it back. Then I paid the price, no quibble, and the AAH once owned by Parker's senior salesman S. A. Tucker, which he used at the GAH at live birds, and exhibited at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair appears on the cover of my new book, Parker Guns: Shooting Flying and the American Experience (Collector Books of Paducah KY) scheduled for shipping from the printer tomorrow. I have never had a negative experience with the named dealers (if you know their initials), and I have never had a negative experience with a lesser-known gunshow dealer, as I bought "guns in hand." And I would never buy a gun from an unknown Internet dealer/seller, especially on the ambiguous terms often stated. Caveat Emptor! EDM
