I've located a 4" nickel Colt Python. In the matching box, with the factory paperwork. It's POSSIBLY unfired and looks to be utterly pristine from the photo.
What are the expert opinions on value? I'm thinking of pouncing on this as an investment. I do have an extremely nice 6" royal blue now that I've more than doubled my money on to date.
I think the Colt snake revolvers are wildly overvalued, and I will not think of one as an investment. I have several, including NIB nickel 4" and 6" samples and 2.75", 3", 6", and 8" blued, I bought in the early 1990s, when the switch to the "wonder nine" was at full speed. I did not pay more than $600 for any of them before 1994. So $600 is the base, inflation is 5% per year, and the number of years is 25, so my carrying cost is $1935. That is what I would pay as it is what I paid when I bought mine. So, for me, the market is overvalued. As such, I have been slowly unloading mine.
In the current market: : $2500-$3000.
Is that ridiculous? Yep. But it's pointless to bitch about what it's really worth, what I'd be willing to pay, etc. That's the reality.
We may lose and we may win, but we will never be here again.......
I bought my first handgun, a Dan Wesson 15-2, in 1982. Farm&Fleet. Rantoul, IL. Next to in in the case was a 4” Colt Python. It was about $200 more than the DW. I was a poor college kid. Money was tight. With part of the difference bought some ammo and a cheap holster.
Doh.
...but seriously, I regret selling off my blued 6" Python.
Last edited by Guerrero; 05-30-2018 at 11:15 AM.
"The victor is not victorious if the vanquished does not consider himself so."
― Ennius
I think there is a buyers bubble on this, when guys my age (60) finally age ourselves out of the sentimental/nostalgia/always wanted one buying market, or all finally die, the price bubble will burst. But as it stands now members of my demographic are often well funded, nostalgic, and generally aged out of the "kids in college" financial pressures of life....wherefore, the prices may be sustained or even increase for another 10 years but I would not plan to hold one as an investment for 25 years.
On the other hand, they're not making any new and better ones and true valuation can certainly have an big emotional component. In terms of rarity and panache is it worth more than a $4,000 Wilson Combat? Hell yes!
Really? Are first generation SAA's going down in price? Pre-war S&Ws? Winchester 42's? Once the price climbs it usually stays there or keeps rising. If the OP buys a Python for $3k today it may not increase in price enough to be a real investment, but I doubt he'll have to sell it off for a 30% loss.Originally Posted by fatdog
"Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. So we might want to bring thinking back into it."-MDFA
Beware of my temper, and the dog that I've found...
I think you're mistaken. I spend a lot of time amongst the shooting public. The younger generation is discovering vintage guns like old revolvers at an ever increasing rate. They've grown up in the age of the drastic plastic and a lot of guns like the Python are extremely cool to them. Television shows like The Walking Dead and YouTube have certainly helped this along. One thing we tend to forget is that most of the gun buying public aren't switched on tactical timmies. The younger folks who'll keep Python prices high are the young entrepreneurs who start their own micro breweries or handmade furniture stores. They admire the craftsmanship of the old guns and don't care how many rounds they hold, or how light they are. If it's featured in their favorite movie or comic, all the better. There's a lot of these young folks out there who look at the old guns as some kind of hipster cool and they're the ones with the disposable income.
The generation preceding mine grew up on the Western, both on television and in the movies. There was a time when fifty percent of the programs on television were westerns and forty percent of movies made were the same. For that generation, the Colt Single Action Army was the gun. That generation is now passing on and/or getting out of collecting, yet the SAA isn't coming down in value. Using guns as an investment in terms of a retirement plan is a mistake. However, thinking there's some kind of bubble is simply myopic and doesn't jive with historic trends.
We may lose and we may win, but we will never be here again.......
I see your point but as said, they aren't making them anymore so over time the pool of them is ever so slowly shrinking. 10 years ago I paid $1000 for my 6" Royal Blue version. I bought it from the original owner who only handgun hunted with it and carried it in a Bianchi shoulder rig so it's not beat up at all. He was local to me and bought from a well known dealer who we both patronized. There is not a blemish, freckle, ding, dent or scratch on the gun anywhere and has a round count of 400 rounds. That last 100 was by me and were .38 Special mid range loads.
I really don't see the price going down unless they start making them again, but I suspect the opposite will happen in the unlikely case they do in that they won't be of the same quality and only add more value to the old originals. Is it a gamble? Sure. All investments are, but I'm fairly confident that I'm doing pretty well on my first sample. If I get another at a reasonable fair market value and hold it for 10 years I can't see losing money.
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