[skywarp]

Or do people just have too much money suddenly??

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=162285279

 

[ij70]

It is very nice Infantry Rifle which, I believe, have been cleaned up a little. Perhaps someone is looking at investing into tangible assets, after all, the supply of M91 is nearly zero.

 

[tplan]

I dunno, I must be missing it too. I guess it's the determination to get a 1900 dated 91. I have 1899 & 1898 91s in about the same shape. Wonder if I can get $500 a piece for them, too?

 

[badger]

Scrubbed receiver probably Balkan, $150 absolute tops for me.

regards
badger

 

[USMCsean]

Yep... i think we should investigate auction buyers for crack use.

 

[nwellons]

Maybe it has a very nice cleaning rod.

 

[v i t]

I was looking at that one the other day myself. "Balkan Import" - I would guess a complete mix master. Bulgarian marked stock.
Here is another auction by the same seller http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewBidHistory.aspx?Item=162285003
Notice anything similar? - The auction is normal to a point where the normal selling price would be, then two guys duke it out and take it beyond what it should sell for.

 

[AlamoCity]

I had a pretty bad deal with this seller a few years ago, where he misrepresented the condition of a Gew98. For me, his auctions always raise a big red flag, especially since I've also noticed several of his auctions yielding bidding wars that produce inflated selling prices.

T

 

[Pahtu]

Hmmm, I sold my Balkan rifle here on the trader, for a few hundred less.....I am slackin.....

Pahtu.

 

[selectfire]

I sold that rifle to that guy at the 1500 2 weeks ago and I was wondering how in the world he got that much $ for it. I have been lugging it around for 2 years to various gunshows including NGD and had no takers at $175. A fellow collector said that he thought it might have seen Japan given some of the stock markings but I don't see it. Same story on that SCW that SREisel sold. The guy does tend to gloss over inconvenient facts in his auctions.

 

[sdh1891]

The only thing missing here is the slippage from the buying community, too much money w/too little exposure. That gun is worth about 1/3 rd that on a good day. I've had no less than 3 of them, never paid over $200.00 for a scrub and that would have to been mint-SDH

 

[gunhorde]

After seeing some of the RIDICULOUS prices some of these rifles are selling for, from now on I'm gonna list anything I sell on GunBroker!! I'll be rich QUICK!

I've had a number of M.91's at the last few shows for $180 and not ONE of them sold! One of them is a Balkan marked 1916 Sestroryetsk...

 

[kolkhoznik]

Can you say "shill"?

 

[zeebill]

I don't think Steve would do that. These rifles came in and were selling for about $59 and boy do I wish I bought more of them! That represents a pretty fair profit if you were the original buyer when it came into the country! Bill

 

[JMG]

zeebill- I remember paying 25 dollars apiece for most of my balkan collection!
JMG

 

[Nick]

What on Earth does "Balkan" mean? That's too non-descript to be used in conjunction with "collection". Is it Romanian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Albanian, Montenegrin, Greek or Turkish? These countries used the three-line rifle in different periods and acquired them under different circumstances.

For example, Bulgaria bought 50,000 obr. 1891 just before the Balkan War of 1912 and these rifles looked like the one on the picture below. During WWI tens of thousands more obr. 1891 were captured by the Bulgarian troops from the Romanians, Russians and Serbians, but they had the 1910 update.

 

[tplan]

For example, Bulgaria bought 50,000 obr. 1891 just before the Balkan War of 1912 and these rifles looked like the one on the picture below. During WWI tens of thousands more obr. 1891 were captured by the Bulgarian troops from the Romanians, Russians and Serbians, but they had the 1910 update.

And they didn't put a B in a circle on any of them, did they Nick? I didn't realize Bulgaria actually bought M91s. I only knew about the WWI captures. If they bought them in 1912, are you saying the Russians sold them only old stock? They were all pre-1910 style?

 

[Nick]

... I didn't realize Bulgaria actually bought M91s. I only knew about the WWI captures. If they bought them in 1912, are you saying the Russians sold them only old stock? They were all pre-1910 style?

Yes, 50,000 rifles in pre-1910 configuration with 50,000,000 round-nosed bullets! No "circle-B" markings that I am aware of - I've seen in person two of these rifles, both Sestroretsk-made.

Here are scans from a few Bulgarian sources on this purchase; when Bulgaria entered WWI in 1915 they still had more than 46,000 obr. 1891 rifles in their inventory and many more were captured afterwords:

 

[nwellons]

I thought that some countries must have received the first version of the M91 since I have a 91/38 with no cross bolt and have seen photos of others. Don't know how they made it to the geographical area that became Czechoslovakia but this info helps.

 

[Hasso]

Yeah, I've purchased two things from that seller in the past, and he does tend to be a little optimistic in his grading. On the other hand, when one of the items I picked up turned out to have issues, he did give me a couple of options to make it right, so I'm pleased from that perspective. On the other hand, unless its something that I can't find locally (okay, that's EVERYTHING) or from another source, I tend to avoid those auctions.