Dr. Bob,
Yeah, it's a very different collector group.
The "militaria" guys are history buffs, not really gun make/design/beauty buffs. They get all wet over a poorly assembled, mediocre design "tin cup" (your apt phrase) which maybe, possibly, could have been used somewhere near where a battle was fought during the War of Northern Aggression...and it isn't really about the quality/design etc of the gun itself. Its more of a time/place association of a gun as an ARTIFACT...not a piece of mechanical art.
It's just an entirely different asthetic.
We had a couple over for dinner a couple years back, and i was told ahead of time that the guy "really knows his old guns...u guys will talk for hours." Turned out he knew quite a bit about different "pattern" military guns used (or...possibly used) in certain war battles.
As for doubleguns, he offered that he had "heard of Parker."
Again, it's just a whole different asthetic. Some very nice and informative guys, but, really a different kind of crowd.
NDG
I really mean "Tin Cups" literally. Real beat up tin cups like you would find in a dump. Nothing to do with Arms except that those who used them may have been armed.
My point is they call it an Arms Show but award junk. It would be like a car show giving awards for skateboards.
It takes a lot of work, not the least collecting the guns displayed, travel, motel bills, table fees, etc. to enter. I expect to compete fairly. Losing to a display like the one with the pistols given to George Washington by Lafayette is one thing. Losing to non-arms junk is another.
