Auction house deals

[davejb]

Ive just watched the programme Auction Kings, they had a guy come in with an Arisaka rifle and nco samurai sword still wrapped in the original packing paper when sent home to America, the rifle was so well packed that it had never been opened, the sword had only the scabbard wrapped but you were able to remove the sword which the auctioneer did, it was in excellent condition, these items came straight from the aftermath of Iwo Jima, the senders name and address was still on the packing, you could not even see the rifle except the full shape under the paper, imagine the condition it would be in and i daresay able to fire as well, the crazy price of $1500 was all it went for, but the expert who was called in stated $1000 for both, am i going mad, the sword would fetch at least £800-1000 here notwithstanding that the sword wasnt even examined to see the age of the blade, the deals you lads get over the pond are incredible

[Walkwolf]

I've seen the episode you're refering to. A big problem might be tape residue
permanently stuck to the rifle and/or sword. Neither of them were
checked for condition, damage, etc.

It is nothing more than a TV show, and I think a lot of stuff is shown for
entertainment value - and those 'great deals' only happen
occasionally to a few very lucky people !

Where am I when cool things like this come up for auction.......?

[sitges1990]

I think it's the simple fact there are hundreds if not thousands of small rural or remote auction houses taking this stuff in. Many times the owners do a poor job of advertising which reduces the number of bidders significantly. It seems more of these guys are trying to work on a larger volume basis vs trying to squeeze every dime out of an item that they can get. Sadly, I'm like you guys, never at the right place at the right time. Hey, it works quite well for Wal Mart with it's .08 % profit margin.

Jay