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COMMEMORATIVE ISSUES

These guns tend to be valued for their scarcity as collectibles or for their general eye appeal. If individual hand engraved guns are considered and evaluated as unique works of art, these mass produced pieces are perhaps more similar to limited edition prints of artwork or other items intentionally made to be collectibles, such as limited edition Christmas ornaments. The various price guides such as Blue Book of Gun Values or Standard Catalog of Firearms provide a good indication of the retail price of these arms. Generally speaking, the fewer produced, the older the commemorative, and the more attractive the decoration, the greater the value.

To command close to full “book” value, a commemorative type arm must be in NIB or “new in the box” condition, definitely unfired and preferably without the action having ever been worked! (Due to manufacturing tolerances, such actions as rotating the cylinder of a revolver or working the lever of a rifle can create minute scratches in the finish that will reduce the desirability of a collectible commemorative). Once a commemorative has been fired, its value begins to rapidly decline towards that of a standard non-decorated example of the same model. A commemorative that shows extensive wear will often bring much less than a plain model with similar wear.