A friend of mine bought two M60 ammo cans of 'antique' ammo at an auction.

He gave me the ammo, assuming I would just blast  away with it.  I told him he was crazy, that we should first look into selling it.  He told me to "knock yourself out, it's now your ammo."

To make a long story short, I hit auctionarms.com and did some searching.  The ammo is fairly valuable, now I need to know what restrictions there are on selling ammo, and what is the best way to turn his gift to me, back into cash for him.  (yeah, I know, he gave it to me, but he gave it to me under the assumption is was not valuable.)

Here is some of the ammo (and value based on auctionarms):

Peters 20 ga High Velocity (duck cover) $45.00
Western 12 ga. Super X (blue box bottom) 25.00
Winchester 12 ga. Super Speed (red bottom box) 45.00?
Peters 28 ga. Power Piston Skeet 25.00
Remington 22lr Kleanbore (Shotshells) 13.00
Western 25 auto 8.00
Western 38 sp 10.00
Other assorted/partial boxes of 22lr shotshells

I have several other boxes that I could not find on a current auction.

I have seen antique ammo dealers at gunshows, but I am assuming they would not give me a fair price for the ammo.  ("No, this is the common box, you need the special limited edition preban papershells, these aren't worth a dime, son!")

Here are some links to the ammo that I found that matches/nearly matches my ammo:


www.auctionarms.com/search/displayitem.cfm?ItemNum=3100302

www.auctionarms.com/search/displayitem.cfm?ItemNum=3109274

www.auctionarms.com/search/displayitem.cfm?ItemNum=3100302


Advice?  Suggestions?

TRG


Ps.  Yeah, I know this something that could be discussed in the ammo area, but I don't need to know what I have, I need to know what to do with it.  How/where to sell it to obtain the best price.

TRG,

i would be interested in the .22 shot rounds..., drop me an Email........

Email Sent

Just because the asking price on the ammo you found at the auction site is like say 45, doesnt mean it's worth 45. Has anyone bid on it???????

Always look for ones with bids..

Quoted: Just because the asking price on the ammo you found at the auction site is like say 45, doesnt mean it's worth 45. Has anyone bid on it??????? Always look for ones with bids..

A good point, however, I researched the DEALER, not simply his listed auctions (I wanted a picture of the items I was talking about) and found that he has a variety of listings on a wide range of antique ammunition.  

I am using his prices as a baseline.  I have enough sense about me to know that an offered price at auction is only a general price guide.

Auctioned items, on the Internet, generally bring less than their true value.  Based upon the following:

Buyer's inability to inspect the merchandise
Limited audience (older, wealthier collectors are not on the Internet)
Shipping costs
Buyer's reticense to invest with unknown dealer
Innacurate descriptions
Lack of photographic documentation
limited information provided
Lot numbers, serial numbers ommitted etc.

Therefore, the true price of the boxes of ammo would likely be slightly higher than listed at auction.


The flipside of the coin is the 'bidding wars' sometime generated by over anxious buyers causing common items to sell for twice their true value, but hey, there is a flipside to every argument.

TRG