Gun Show Warning

[milmuseum]

Thanks 450, I'll have time this weekend to do that. Look for a post on Saturday AM Pacific time.

Burt

[mauser9]

While the autor was generally known to be of good charachter alot of what was passed as gospel by a certain few he relied to heavily on makes his books on the subject(s) problematic on no small scale. And by far it does not list "all you need to know" on german rifles of the nazi era. I've still got my original copy - with loads of corrections I made to the text and noting pics of fake items in it. It's not gospel and if treated so will lead you down the primrose path.

Thanks for pointing out shortcomings in book Gew98. Did not realize there are errors. Hope I did not mislead anyone but I believe book has valuable info.

[Wolf308]

I just want to add that you probably want to bring an expert to shops with you, too. I appraise guns for a gun shop and I see a lot of fakes come in, and a lot that have had extensive work done to them but the owner tries to pawn it off as original, or they try to convince you that you are stupid because what you know is fact is, apparently wrong. I won't give any specifics of things that have happened in the past, but on more than one occasion I've given people not so friendly lessons on why they should not question my intelligence in such a manner. These people go to shops that carry mostly "black and tactical" stuff, thinking they can pull one over on the staff, who are usually very much into the modern stuff themselves and not so much into older stuff. I get the added benefit that word has gotten around that our shop has appraisals done by a female. Regardless of me being female, I have been collecting older weapons for years, and have been appraising them for about five years now. Still, if it's beat up or fake, I'll see it. I don't take them, but we have had them come in on consignments. Our staff tells people, "Yeah, this is *whatever* and it's had *this work* done to it recently, that we can tell." Can't say all shops will be that honest, but I insist on it as a collector myself.

[me109g4]

Like I said before, if there is a buck to be made there will be a faker trying to collect, be it a Mauser, Garand or a japanese sword. nowadays the buyer had better be on his game or it may cost him big time.

[mauser9]

I just want to add that you probably want to bring an expert to shops with you, too. I appraise guns for a gun shop and I see a lot of fakes come in, and a lot that have had extensive work done to them but the owner tries to pawn it off as original, or they try to convince you that you are stupid because what you know is fact is, apparently wrong. I won't give any specifics of things that have happened in the past, but on more than one occasion I've given people not so friendly lessons on why they should not question my intelligence in such a manner. These people go to shops that carry mostly "black and tactical" stuff, thinking they can pull one over on the staff, who are usually very much into the modern stuff themselves and not so much into older stuff. I get the added benefit that word has gotten around that our shop has appraisals done by a female. Regardless of me being female, I have been collecting older weapons for years, and have been appraising them for about five years now. Still, if it's beat up or fake, I'll see it. I don't take them, but we have had them come in on consignments. Our staff tells people, "Yeah, this is *whatever* and it's had *this work* done to it recently, that we can tell." Can't say all shops will be that honest, but I insist on it as a collector myself.

You are to be commended for your honesty and I wish we had more honest people like yourself especially when it comes to dealing with collectibles. Many people have gotten out of the market because of bad experiences or getting ripped of on forgeries. Glad my thread has received this much attention as a warning to dishonest people or dealers. I believe it is always important to bring knowledgeable people along when making a purchase. Best wishes

[me109g4]

An aquaintance on a gun forum i subscribe to once said, "Before you buy guns, buy books". I think that could be made to apply to anything collectable nowadays. Knowledge is power.

[Wolf308]

You are to be commended for your honesty and I wish we had more honest people like yourself especially when it comes to dealing with collectibles. Many people have gotten out of the market because of bad experiences or getting ripped of on forgeries. Glad my thread has received this much attention as a warning to dishonest people or dealers. I believe it is always important to bring knowledgeable people along when making a purchase. Best wishes

I firmly believe in "do unto others..."

[mauser9]

Good advice from the both of you. I believe honesty pays off in the long run.

[octavian]

Well done Mauser for calling the ball on that dealer! People like that have no love for the art of collecting. They just see dollar signs. In the art world, if one forges a work of art that's considered a crime. Why not the same for all the military counterfeiter's???