Walt, to maintain the same value, which is what I am referring to (and in so keeping the same rate, which would indicate the same value) the Hi Power would have to increase by $100 more dollars over the CZ. I just don't see them going up in those kinds of dollars - especially when you place the value at time parity with a CZ starting in 1976
You may be right, but you've offered NO EVIDENCE to support your claim. Belief alone isn't sufficient.
What were CZs selling for in 1976? My comments about "short-rail" CZs, above, was based on the prices paid in Europe. You would have had to have paid over $1000 to get that same gun, new, in the US. And a CZ bought for $1000 in 1978 dollars would have to sell for $3780 in 2012 to just hold it's value. I haven't seen anything like that happening. I have personally bought two CZ-75s that cost the original buyer $800 - $1000 in the 1980s for much, much less, in the early 2000s. They knew they couldn't get their purchase price and didn't try.
A CZ that sold new for $450 in 2000 would have to sell for almost $600 today to hold it's value; for that price I'd buy a new one and get a warranty, too,.
In the U.S., when they were first sold to the West, CZs prices were obscenely high, thanks to Western import restrictions on Communist Bloc weapons. That price differential went away when imports were finally allowed into the US, and several different importers started bringing them into the US. Prices were cut in half, and then dropped almost 30% again, very quickly.
I'm not claiming much of anything for either brand of gun; I think they're both losing propositions in real terms -- if you look at either gun as an investment. As a "less costly hobby," they can be better propositions than cars or most boats, and golf (clubs, etc.)
Note: I just did an "advanced" search on Gunbroker for BHP and found bunches of BHPs for sale with asking prices over $1000. Interestingly, there are almost no bids for the pricier offerings. There is a lot Lots of activity for ones selling at much lower starting points. $600 - $700 seems to be where the action is, and then things peak out. The same phenomena can be seen in Gunbroker CZs: the only ones getting bids are the lower-priced USED ones with starting prices much less than new ones.
One participant here has shown that some 50-year old BHPs have the potential to offer OK, if not bring stellar returns. I don't think newer BHPs are doing as well, however. Do you have any evidence to support your claims about CZ values? How about ones that were sold during the 1990 or early 2000s? (I may have some sales slips, somewhere; I need to dig them out...)