Liquidating a Gun Collection

A year and a half had passed, and I was still working on the partial liquidation. The plan sounded simple enough at the beginning: sell some, give some away, and keep some. Living through the process made it clear that gun collections are not just inventory. They are history, attachment, family memory, and sometimes a little bit of unfinished business.

Just a short recap: it was a health scare that started my thought process about what my wife would do about all of these old guns. In August of 2020 I wrote about the tax consequences of a partial liquidation of a gun collection. Then in September of 2020, I wrote about my plan to downsize my gun collection.

My plan was to sell some, give some away, and keep some.

And So It Was, I Gave Some Away

9 Down — As I said in a previous article, I had guns stored in places that would likely not even be found for a very long time. When I began, I gathered those hidden gems and put them all in one place to evaluate. After gifting nine guns to family members I realized I had not made a dent in the numbers. Even after these were gone, it was still pretty clear that I had a long way to go in order to get to where I wanted to be.

Then I Sold Some

16 Down — Starting with all of my snub-nose revolvers, except the two Colt Cobras from the 1970s, I sold them all on an online auction. On these guns I did not make any profit, but I did not lose any money, unless you consider the time value of money. The whole experience was excruciating. I quickly realized that I did not want to liquidate the guns this way.

The Consignment Option

26 Down — After talking with a good friend who had recently sold some of his collection through a professional seller, I decided to give that a try. I chose five long guns and five handguns that I knew would fetch $10,000 to $12,000. The seller charged a 10% commission plus 3% for auction fees. If things went well, I thought I would net $10,000 after the selling expenses.

The lot of ten guns sold for $10,396 and I received $9,022 after expenses. Two of the bunch brought more than I expected, two fetched considerably less than I anticipated, and the remaining six all slightly under-performed my best-case expectations. In hindsight I realize that my $10,000 estimate was better than my hopeful $12,000 on the top side.

Whether I consign more guns or not, I do not know just yet. I do know that I much prefer consigning over doing it myself. Those people really earn their commission. I started at the bottom of the collection with those ten guns, and the next lot would average one and one-half to two times the average value per piece of the last bunch.

And There Are Guns I Plan to Keep

Initially my goal was to reduce the collection to twenty-four guns: twelve handguns and twelve long guns. I am not there yet, and in fact, I am beginning to question if I can do that at all. Reducing the long guns to six rifles and six shotguns is doable. But I do not see that happening with the handguns. I will get the number under control and have them organized so that I do not have guns stashed in random hidden places, not to be discovered after I am gone.

Even the best laid plans have to be flexible. As I went along this journey of reducing the number of guns in my collection, I made adjustments. In the last year and a half, I also acquired seven guns. I gave four of them away. Three of those are staying with me.

1.5 years of progress: 30 down and 3 up, net 27 down.

While the number of guns is going down, the average value is going up. Letting go of some of the old guns that had been around for so many years was difficult at first, but as the liquidation progressed, I actually felt a bit relieved. There was one gun in particular that had been in my collection for more than thirty years and rarely saw the light of day.

Not Part of the Collection

There are a few guns that were never intended to be part of my collection.

I preordered and prepaid $1,500 for that pistol caliber carbine two years ahead of production. By the time my friend and his company got the guns to market they were priced at $995, and two short years later were out of business. C'est la vie.

Closing Thought

Liquidating a gun collection is not just a financial exercise. It is an inventory project, a family planning project, a tax question, and an emotional process. The best advice I can give is to start before someone else has to do it for you. Organize the collection, document what matters, decide what should stay in the family, and be honest about which pieces are only taking up space.

About Greg Cook

Greg Cook writes about firearms collecting, personal history, and the stories behind interesting guns. His Army MOS was 76Y, Unit Armorer, and he brings that practical background to his collector articles.