The great thing about this bulletin board is its hundreds of active members -- many who've been here for years and contributed thousands of posts that have helped so many of us build better collections. Some make their living, one way or another, in the shooting world, but most have other professions and may be quite accomplished in other areas, as well. Here, "seated among us," are a group of veterans who make up what has to be, without a doubt, the "dream team" of collecting "investment-grade" guns. Some have deep pockets and buy whatever they like whenever they find it. Others have gathered up amazing collections over a lifetime of hard and cautious work. A few are recognized as the world's best in their area of research expertise (and perhaps literally "wrote the book"), or are the honest-to-gosh most accomplished craftsmen (stockers, engravers, restorers, etc.) to be found anywhere. Although we seldom hear much about it, most here have made some extremely smart purchases and handsome profits over the course of their collecting careers (quite a few on a regular basis, I'm sure), and some have bought and sold literally thousands of guns over decades of collecting. To my constant amazement, they know simply everything there is to know about any gun you could name. My hat is off to each of them! TT
