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Old 04-30-2008, 04:24 PM
Roger Bleile's Avatar
Roger Bleile Roger Bleile is offline
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Location: Kentucky
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Default Low dollar work

I don't want to get into a war of words here and didn't intend to offend anyone. I understand where you are coming from. One of my oldest and dearest friends is an 18th century reinactor and self described "stitch counter" who I have learned much from about all things from the period you are interested in.

When I mentioned low dollar... I was speaking in a relative sense regarding guns. I do work some work on cowboy action shooter type guns and also consider that a low dollar market. Generally most engravings on single actions and replica 1866's and 1873's run in the $750.00 to $2,500.00 range. Add to that the cost of a Colt SAA starting at about $1,500.00 or a Uberti rifle at about $1,000.00 and you have a range of $1,750.00 to about $4,000.00 for the whole item.

When you look at some of the shotguns and double rifles shown on this site and the Engravers Cafe site made by James Purdy, Holland & Holland, P.V. Nelson and so forth you will be looking at a "high dollar" market. The basic bespoke gun is in the $60,000.00 to $100,000.00 range and then the engraving can take it to a quarter million or better. One gun engraved by Phil Coggen is presently for sale at an asking price of $350,000.00! That is what I mean by high dollar.

By the way, It looks like this could be the winning thread in the contest with over 200 posts! Charles has started an excellent discussion on a topic that is apparently of great interest (and diverse opinions) here.

Roger
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