1918 US Army Model of 1911...

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  • Sainte70

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    Jan 5, 2012
    639
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    NOLA
    Is there a person or place in the New Orleans area that I can bring it to for a good, accurate and honest appraisal?

    I am not looking for Joe Bob at the gun store who just wants to finger F my pistol but, someone who knows wtf they are talking about.
     
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    LACamper

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    Jun 3, 2007
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    Metairie, LA
    Short answer... no.

    Call Cohen's on Royal St. It's a bit too new for them but they may have an honest appraiser suggestion. I'm assuming you want a written insurance type appraisal and are not looking to sell. Most gun shops will pull out a blue book value of guns and look it up for you and then low ball you.
     

    Gator 45/70

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    31   0   0
    Short answer... no.

    Call Cohen's on Royal St. It's a bit too new for them but they may have an honest appraiser suggestion. I'm assuming you want a written insurance type appraisal and are not looking to sell. Most gun shops will pull out a blue book value of guns and look it up for you and then low ball you.

    I hadn't heard or been to that place in years....One neat shop with a lot of history,I recommend everyone to stop in and look around,Thanks for posting the name!
     

    BarneyFife

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    Aug 28, 2013
    269
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    North of BR
    "I would post lots of photos on this site

    https://forums.1911forum.com/

    They have lots of knowledge. Post under USGI section"

    ____________________________________________________________________

    That's exactly what I did for my 1917 USGI. Got some very meaningful info from the members and they were more than happy to chime in. A wealth of knowledge with those forum members.
     
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    RaleighReloader

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    33   0   0
    Jan 30, 2015
    1,177
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    Baton Rouge, LA
    Is there a person or place in the New Orleans area that I can bring it to for a good, accurate and honest appraisal?

    I am not looking for Joe Bob at the gun store who just wants to finger F my pistol but, someone who knows wtf they are talking about.

    A lot depends on what the appraisal is for, since a gun doesn't have any one value. Or, are you looking for more of a historical appraisal to better understand what it is?

    I do a lot of work on the historical side, but I generally don't do insurance or monetary appraisals since sales prices (especially for WW1 and WW2 guns) tend to be highly subjective, markets in general fluctuate, and replacement values are subject to the whims of whatever the auction houses are doing at that moment in time. I do note that there are a number of 1918 dated 1911's on GunBroker in the low $2,000's,

    Mike
     

    Sainte70

    Well-Known Member
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    57   0   0
    Jan 5, 2012
    639
    28
    NOLA
    I am looking to eventually sell the pistol as I already have two other 45's.

    I greatly appreciate the web links and will go check those out.

    As for Cohen's. I appreciate the suggestion but, I had a horrible experience with those people. I brought in a family heirloom Civil War saber as well as one I had purchased. Both of the swords had a scabbard with my family piece in perfect condition (for it's age) while the bought scabbard had a dent in the middle. One of the guys there jammed my family sword into the bought scabbard and scratched the blade....I was hot! Then the guy offered me like $125 for each blade.
     

    RaleighReloader

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    33   0   0
    Jan 30, 2015
    1,177
    48
    Baton Rouge, LA
    I am looking to eventually sell the pistol as I already have two other 45's.

    I greatly appreciate the web links and will go check those out.

    As for Cohen's. I appreciate the suggestion but, I had a horrible experience with those people. I brought in a family heirloom Civil War saber as well as one I had purchased. Both of the swords had a scabbard with my family piece in perfect condition (for it's age) while the bought scabbard had a dent in the middle. One of the guys there jammed my family sword into the bought scabbard and scratched the blade....I was hot! Then the guy offered me like $125 for each blade.

    I would not recommend Cohen. They have some nice stuff (and I think they've been around long enough to be well networked with various factions of the collecting community), but my experience is that they're more interested in selling trinkets and baubles to Royal Street tourists than they are in engaging in serious discussion about historic firearms. And their interesting guns are definitely being sold for "Royal Street" prices.

    One of the reasons I shy away from doing appraisals is because much of this has become a commodity market vis-a-vis GunBroker and the larger auction houses like Rock Island and Amoskeag, which means that it's subject to the whims of any commodity market. Gun shows and resellers like a traditional gun store are going to yield 25% to 40% of the gun's actual value, and with a private sale you really need to make sure you know what you have so you don't underprice (or overprice) your gun. All of this market variability means that appraisals are most useful for ascertaining whether you have a really rare variant -- but then, you need to make sure that the appraiser knows all of the ins and outs of 1911's.

    If you've got a garden variety gun, then you'd probably do best to list it on GunBroker. Make sure you include 30 or 40 excellent photographs, so that prospective buyers can make their own assessment. 1911's are always being sought out, so that's as good of a place as any to realize the gun's potential value.

    Mike
     
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