My gun was manufactured and imported in 1968 just prior to the ban. It was purchased new for $50, by the father of one of my friends, who was a gun dealer at the time. He put the gun in his safe, still in the wax paper and pouch where it stayed for thirty years untouched and still unfired.

.25 Caliber Browning

Let's look at the transaction from an "investment" point of view. My friend's father doubled his money every ten years on the gun, i.e., 1968=$50, 1978=$100, 1988=$200 and finally 1998=$400 when he sold the investment to me. When I originally wrote this I asked the question, "Do I think it will double in value by 2008?" At the time I said, "I think so. I have seen one like mine sell for $750 on gunbroker.com recently."

UPDATE: Well, in 2008 my question was answered. I was offered $800 for the Baby, and I turned it down.

Important Note

The fact that the gun is unfired, condition of the original finish, it has the original manual, is in the original wax paper and has the original pouch all influence and enhance the value of this gun. Condition is everything with a gun that is a half-century old.

Size compared to St Dupont cigarette lighter

Although I'm not into gun collecting as an investment, I do like to collect guns that I believe will hold their value or increase in value. I look for value in everything I purchase, cars, musical instruments, down to my wrist watch. My friend's father was able to put this gun in a safe and leave it alone for thirty years, (possibly because he was a gun dealer and had plenty of other guns to keep him busy)!

Loaded magazine removed

As you can see, I have the gun out on the kitchen counter taking pictures, holstering it and even loading the magazine and carrying it on certain occasions. I have resisted the temptation to fire it, but only by buying a used blue gun of this same model to practice with.

Many gun enthusiasts will laugh at the mention of a .25 caliber gun and call them a mouse gun. This little gun earned my respect and the respect of a lot of others through it's service to the French Resistance during WWII. It saved many lives. This gun went places, undetected, where a larger gun could not have gone. I've read more than one story of this gun being concealed inside cigarette packs.

A word of caution if you own one of these with the pearl-lite grips: I have seen many examples where sunlight had yellowed the grips so badly that they just looked awful. Sunlight will cause extreme discoloration.

This Lightweight version of the gun used a 6061 T6 aluminum frame and hexavalent chrome-plated (over electro-less nickel) slide and external detail parts.