Don't suppose this story would qualify as a "scam", but my ignorance sure lead to a good old fashioned screw job. My job went away in 2004, and since my wife was a homemaker and my income was our sole support, it didn't take too many months to go thru my savings. In order to survive I began selling off my double gun collection, and one of those guns was a one-off special order LC Smith (was featured in the DGJ). As I was always a buyer and not a seller, I didn't know where to turn to find a buyer and I needed cash fast. So I called up an individual who had a reputation for selling Smith guns and asked what he thought the gun was worth, whether he thought he could sell the gun, and his fee for doing so. He thought the gun would bring about $15K, that he certainly thought he could sell the gun, and that his minimum fee was $1K. So I told him I'd certainly pay his $1K fee if he got $15K for the gun and arranged to meet him the next day(I obviously never heard the word "minimum"). He called the next day and said he had me a check for $19,5K; and I needed to give him a check for $4500. What; you said a thousand? No, he said; I told you I'd sell the gun for $15K and my fee was whatever I got above that amount. If he'd made that clear, there'd obviously have been no issue; but bottom line he got his $4500 fee and I made another big payment towards my Double Gun PhD. In retrospect it was MY FAULT for not making sure I had a clear understanding of the way he operated; but at the time I considered this guy my "friend", and a person I could trust. He also knew I was selling only because my circumstances gave me no other choice; and on top of that fact, his business has benefitted big time sales-wise from the information he's gotten as a result of my research efforts. I simply couldn't believe that a "friend" was taking advantage, but that was far from the final insult; at a vintage shoot three months later "my" Smith gun was on his table with a price tag of $55K, and the gun sold shortly afterwards. $55K! So how could a gun this guy told me he thought he could bet $15K for have appreciated to $55K in 90 days? If he gun was worth so much more than $15K, the right thing to have done was be honest regardless of whether he knew me or not; and I sure could have used the cash at the time. So...I've got very little use for this guy nowadays and wouldn't trust him as far I could throw him. And whether his dealings with me will hurt his business or not who knows; but I know quite a few Smith and other gun collectors. I've made sure they heard this story; some now hold him in contempt, but all hold him in suspicion. But in spite of the fact that this was a bad deal for me I, unlike this individual, still have my personal integrity; and who knows, I may eventually extract a little "revenge". While researching the A-3 Grade 20-bore Smith gun for the recent DGJ article, it just so happened that the second A-3 20-bore surfaced. This represented a most important find because the original gun had been rumored as destroyed, and a fake A-3 20-bore (a poorly made up and restored piece) had been circulating for years as the restored original. The actual value of this made up fake might be $5K on a good day; but before the original was discovered this dealer screwed over someone else and sold the fake at a large mid-western gun show for what I was told by a witness was an amount in excess of $100K. I'm hoping that the buyer of this fake learns, if he hasn't already, how badly he's been screwed. And I take that position because this particular dealer knows Smith guns as well as anyone in the county. This guy knew the gun he sold was a fake, and now that this gun is exposed for what it actually is, the unfortunate buyer has been permanently screwed as regards having an investment quality "rare" gun. So unless this individual advised the buyer in advance of the sale that the gun he was buying was a fake; then he deserves to have his reputation forever ruined, as well as whatever financial fallout may result. Sorry for the rant, but I do feel a bit better.
Last edited by topgun; 03/20/20 10:56 AM.
