While shopping for a Civil War musket/rifle...

[beast44k]

I've been keeping an eye on the various antique gun sites and everytime I go to Gunbroker, I keep coming across items by a seller in Allport, PA.

My question....what is he thinking and is this guy for real???

[Longknife]

Yep, He's for real and what a wild imagination!!!!!!!!!!

[loco219]

They are the "Sanford and Sons" of antiques. Alot of their descriptions are grossly inaccurate. Most of the guns have been for sale for years.

[beast44k]

They are the "Sanford and Sons" of antiques.

LOL, that made my day!!!
I've noticed his auctions for some time, and have always wondered what others thought about 'em.

[hawknknife]

If yall recall. the Western period sporterized Mississippi rifle I posted pics of a fewmonths ago was purchased from this seller.  It is just an untouched gem of a plains rifle and he was selling it as a cut down rifle to be restored.  It's probably the best gun he has had and didn't have a clue what it was.

[Fullstock longrifle]

It's gotten so bad with this guy, that when I'm on gunbroker doing a search, the first thing I look at is the location of the seller.  If they're from Allport, I don't even bother to look at the listing.  Many years ago there was an auctioneer from the Gettysburg PA area who was cut from the same cloth.  He nailed new collectors with his junk.  I think this is basically what this guy is hoping for.  He wants to score on the unsuspecting.

I'm glad that Hawknknife got something decent from him, but I think that's a very rare (and lucky) case.  By the way, the guy from Allport has several other names he uses to sell his stuff, when I first caught on to him, I saw the same rifle listed under different sellers.  Buyer beware fits this guy very well......

FK

[Majorjoel]

Ditto to what Frank said here!  He often uses Pennsylvania and Kentucky in his auction titles so most of the time I see Pennsylvania and skip over without wasteing my time.

[beast44k]

I think this one is my favorite.....
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=218317479

[Fullstock longrifle]

He must have gotten an A in creative writing when he was in school, he has quite an imagination.

FK

[jdm]

I want one of those!

[B Shipman]

Beast, If interested in a Civil War Musket, I have a good one if your interest is in shooting it. This is what I bought it for and never got around to it.

[beast44k]

I'll send you an email, I haven't gotten the hang of PM on here for some reason.

[JV Puleo]

I have a friend that bought an incredibly rare Tientsen Arsenal (Chinese) Rolling Block for this guy... of course the description was absurd and the price ridiculous (unless you knew what it was) but, as mentioned above, I won't even open his ads on the rare occasion I actually look at GB. I wish they had a way to "exclude a seller."

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

Here is a gun from his 48 page Gunbroker inventory. Very bad pictures but resembles a Henry Carlile or relayed school pathbox. He refused to send additional pictures for study. A reasonable price if it is what it appears to be.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=218395411

[TPH]

Here is another example of his .... how shall I put it.....  foolishness might be best:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=218138448

Condition is terrible and his attempt to connect it's provenance to it's original "home" ? To quote his add: "Actually found during the restoration of the Harper's Ferry arsenal". Does he have a clue? As if there was enough of the Arsenal to restore......

And a M1841 hammer? Come on, it is similar, but if a knowledgeable collector looks at it they will know exactly what it is and it is much better than his copy suggests, out of ignorance and greed, he misses it's only selling point: it is a Confederate contract conversion probably done by the Union Manufacturing Co. of Richmond, VA. and dating to 1861 or 1862 but I won't go into that. There may be less than a half dozen M1803 conversions that can claim to be from the Confederate contracts IF they have survived the "reconversion" foolishness. The starting price is much too high but with the right information posted rather than the horse hockey he put in his copy it could sell, especially if he would state where it was actually found. Start it low and let it sell where it may. Hey, it is what it is and a rare bird despite it's condition. The guy is to be avoided.

There I go, rambling again.

Ooooh, hope I diodn't convince anyone that they can't live without it..... Wait 'til the price drops. A lot.

[loco219]

Twenty or so years ago there was an old man here in Pa who set up at every nice gunshow in the state. He had maybe a dozen old Winchesters, neatly arranged and nice, but nothing special. He never sold a gun. He absolutely loved talking to all the people, telling them stories, and gabbing about Winchesters. He had such a crazy price on each one that he knew no one would buy them. This was his therapy, chatting about guns. One time myself and a few other vendors decided to call him after the show and tell him we would take several of the guns. They were all at least a grand over the going rate. He would never return the phone call. It was a sad day when he no longer showed up, and some people from his area told us he had passed. He was a good old guy, and was in business to sell nothing.

[Bob Smalser]

We call them "hoarders" out here.  And they are fairly common.  Rarer is that they have anything worth buying.  But there's a local shop right now full of treasures I'm waiting for the owner to die and his kids holding a local auction to clean the place out.

But our Allport friend does have a few items I'll grab if he comes down a hundred bucks or so.

Namely:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=218499398
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=218881501

[beast44k]

Was every percussion gun, converted from flintlock in 1830...