Commemorative Revolvers: What's the Story???

All is explained here:

IMO if it's just going to sit in a cabinet or hang on the wall it might as well be plastic.

If you will shoot it and think of your friend, have at it.
Commemorative guns are not usually good financial investments.

skeeterfogger said:

IMO if it's just going to sit in a cabinet or hang on the wall it might as well be plastic.

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Ya mean like a Glock?

I have a 75th anniversary hi power. Engraved on the slide. Shoot it all the time. That’s as close as it comes around here.

Most of those CHP guns were made as fundraisers and sold to the membership by the membership associations. Fraternal Order of Police did this with S&W Model 10's a few years back...they were lightly engraved and looked good, but I never pulled to trigger on one, so to say.

I LOVE Winchester 1894's but I HATE Winchester 1894 commemorative rifles. IMHO most are gaudy, glossy stocked, plated and engraved with crap that are worth 35% of what you paid for it the instant you lose the box/hang tags, scratch or shoot it. (The Canadian Sesquicentennial one with the octagon barrel and no plating looks good in the hand and on the hunt in my opinion, that's about it.) My Dad was suckered into taking as payment for a debt a 1894 "Golden Spike" commemorative rifle that had been hunted with for years; it's scratched and dinged and still has that God-awful gold color on the receiver, barrel bands and a "coin" in the stock. It sits in the far back of my safe, as soon as I can stomach looking at it again I'm going to send it off to be bead-blasted, refinished, restocked and the barrel cut down to trapper length.

I do have two Ducks Unlimited banquet guns my Dad won; a Beretta A303 12 ga and a Remington 870 20 ga. The Beretta has a glossy stock but the engraving is a bit understated so it may get fired/hunted with. The 870 is too fancy to ever want to shoot so it just sits in the safe taking up space.

If I ever bought a .357 mag CHP Ruger #1, I would have it punched out for .357 Max. That would be cool .

It sounds like the gun may mean more to you because of the CHP emblems, in that case buy it and shoot it in the good memory of your friend. Other than that, I wouldn't pay a premium (or even close to MSRP) for one at all.

Stay safe.

Riomouse911 said:

(The Canadian Sesquicentennial one with the octagon barrel and no plating looks good

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My neighbor the gunsmith had one of those. The balance of the octagon barrel was a treat if you had only seen carbines and it was a good accurate iron sight shooter. The receiver finish was shiny, maybe "black chrome" and the stamped lifter did not inspire confidence, but it shot well.

Ever since joining NRA I have been mystified by the full page ads for commemorative (collectible?) firearms in every issue of every magazine. USMC, John Wayne, Vietnam conflict, Gulf War, WWII, US President (well some of them), you can eventually see such a sale for darn near anything a veteran or movie goer or hunter might revere.
Apparently there are people who will pay for these souvenirs, otherwise the ads would have ceased long ago.
Do buyers mount them in display cases? Do they have a mini-museum with walls lined with the cases?Do they shoot them or just look at them?

A cousin has a classic revolver, in excellent condition, in a display case on his living room wall. It belonged to one of his forebears, thus important in family legacy as well as an attractive display. THAT sort of commemorative revolver I understand.

Riomouse911

I was at a gun show some years back and I was looking for a lever gun. Never cared for any of the "fancy looking" Winchester commemoratives but the blued Canadian Centennial was decent and subdued enough that if I found a used one I would have considered buying it. So I'm checking out the tables and I came across a used Canadian Centennial with a 20" barrel, no box or paperwork for $350. The gun was in decent condition but had been fired and the guy was definitely willing to deal on it. Think I could probably have gotten it for $300 without any problem. Told him I would think about it and kept making my rounds through the tables. Came across a LNIB Rossi Model 92 and snatched it up before anyone else grabbed it! That Winchester would have been okay too (especially at that price), but I didn't have much use for a .30-30, while the Rossi in .45 Colt was a perfect fit with my single actions.

Craig_VA said:

Do buyers mount them in display cases? Do they have a mini-museum with walls lined with the cases?Do they shoot them or just look at them?

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Case 1. A friend was tooling up for CAS and was able to buy a commemorative SAA in Royal Blue and gold for less than a Blue/Case Hardened standard model. It shoots very well.

Case 2. Another guy here did have a "mini-museum" with a lot of the Colt Scout .22 Commemoratives by state and territory. When they were stolen, he thought he had a chance of getting them back, they were recognizable by the lid of the case having been removed for display. But I don't know that he did.

bannockburn said:

Riomouse911

I was at a gun show some years back and I was looking for a lever gun. Never cared for any of the "fancy looking" Winchester commemoratives but the blued Canadian Centennial was decent and subdued enough that if I found a used one I would have considered buying it. So I'm checking out the tables and I came across a used Canadian Centennial with a 20" barrel, no box or paperwork for $350. The gun was in decent condition but had been fired and the guy was definitely willing to deal on it. Think I could probably have gotten it for $300 without any problem. Told him I would think about it and kept making my rounds through the tables. Came across a LNIB Rossi Model 92 and snatched it up before anyone else grabbed it! That Winchester would have been okay too (especially at that price), but I didn't have much use for a .30-30, while the Rossi in .45 Colt was a perfect fit with my single actions.
View attachment 935652

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I’ve seen several, IMHO they are a darn good looking rifle (They look a lot like my Marlin 1895 CB). I wish they offered them as a catalog item without some of the Sesquicentennial adornment, I think they would’ve sold pretty well.

The worst one I saw was the Crazy Horse model, it was done up as a “Trade rifle” that had applied case hardening colors and brass beads and other hoopla stuck onto the wood. There is one in the link below

https://www.theexplora.com/winchester-commemorative-rifles-at-westley-richards/


Stay safe.

Yep that Crazy Horse commemorative wins the prize for being the most tackiest (please forgive the pun)!

The thread kinda got hijacked with my posts, sorry about that.
OP as I stated earlier, if you can talk the seller down some on price, owning and shooting a working tribute to your friend would be pretty cool. When one of my best buds was diagnosed with cancer I wanted a 9mm Beretta 92F, the gun he carried on duty. They were still pretty high-priced back then, so all I could find in my range was a used 96 Centurion DAO .40 that I still own. Not quite the same, but the sentiment is there.

Stay safe.

I bought this unfired 1983 FBI Commemorative 27-3 because it is a 5-inch N-frame and not because it is a commemorative. I tossed the mediocre quality presentation case, and kept the cleaning rod and screwdriver. I bought a Wolff spring kit, Pachmayr grip and a bunch of ammunition. I took it apart, cleaned and lubricated, and replaced all of the springs. I took it to the range, zeroed it and put a box through it. It is a fantastic revolver in a handy size and is well-finished with hardly any of the usual commemorative bling, and is my nightstand gun.

Now those I like, great find!

The FOP revolver I stupidly passed up was similarly adorned with a simple crest engraved on the side like yours.

Stay safe.

bannockburn said:

Yep that Crazy Horse commemorative wins the prize for being the most tackiest (please forgive the pun)!

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Riomouse911 said:

The thread kinda got hijacked with my posts, sorry about that.
OP as I stated earlier, if you can talk the seller down some on price, owning and shooting a working tribute to your friend would be pretty cool. When one of my best buds was diagnosed with cancer I wanted a 9mm Beretta 92F, the gun he carried on duty. They were still pretty high-priced back then, so all I could find in my range was a used 96 Centurion DAO .40 that I still own. Not quite the same, but the sentiment is there.

Stay safe.

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Honestly, I kinda dig that "Trade Rifle"- but then again, I aint quite right.

When I was looking for a clean Series 70, I stumbled across one of these at a local pawn shop-

1967 Colt Muese Argonne Commemorative, NIB, unfired. I wasnt crazy about the machine-engraving or the medallion grips, but it does have the "Royal Blue" finish and the price was actually a bit LESS than what I would have paid for a run of the mill, unfired '60s commercial Colt. Plus, it has the neato WW1 throwback features like the small safety, wide hammer, straight grip and no scallops.

Changed the grips, tossed the box (well, into the attic anyway), and Ive shot the snot outta it.


Always thought the Bicentennial Rugers were done well too, wouldnt mind finding one of those someday, maybe a 6" Security Six.

NIGHTLORD40K

I remember seeing those WWI commemoratives when I was a kid. Thought they looked pretty cool, especially with the small thumb safety, the lanyard ring, and the flat mainspring housing. Like the ivory colored grips on the 2nd. Battle of the Marne model the best.

NIGHTLORD40K said:

Honestly, I kinda dig that "Trade Rifle"- but then again, I aint quite right.

When I was looking for a clean Series 70, I stumbled across one of these at a local pawn shop-
View attachment 935693
1967 Colt Muese Argonne Commemorative, NIB, unfired. I wasnt crazy about the machine-engraving or the medallion grips, but it does have the "Royal Blue" finish and the price was actually a bit LESS than what I would have paid for a run of the mill, unfired '60s commercial Colt. Plus, it has the neato WW1 throwback features like the small safety, wide hammer, straight grip and no scallops.

Changed the grips, tossed the box (well, into the attic anyway), and Ive shot the snot outta it.
View attachment 935698

Always thought the Bicentennial Rugers were done well too, wouldnt mind finding one of those someday, maybe a 6" Security Six.

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That 1911 is another one that looks great...as for the trade rifle???

Stay safe.

I general from what I have seen, S&W commemorative revolvers sell for less than the regular edition of the same gun, especially to a collector. There are exceptions. The Texas Ranger commemorative model 19 often goes for $200-300 over what a plain 4" m19 goes for. The different police dept. commemoratives however usually being less.
You can almost always find that one guy that wants a XYZ State police commemorative because his grandfather worked there and will pay extra for it, but it may take a while to find that guy.
That being said, the model 68 is kind of an oddball in itself, and not extremely common. It is a model 66, chambered in 38 special only. That may make the collector not care if it's a commemorative. Generally the hardcore S&W revolver collector wants the highest condition example of a typical model, unfired with box and papers if at all possible. The niche for commemorative collectors is much smaller than regular revolver collector

There's tons of "lore" on commemoratives. Most of which fall into the same category as "things 13 y/o know really well."

First off, they usually sell more than the not-commemorative version. So, they "de-value" to the off-the-shelf price as soon as you buy one, functionally. If left in the box, the value is, functionally, the same as a NIB, unfired, off-the-shelf version. It takes a lot of inflation to get the "value" back up to the sale price. (We now return to the myth of firearms as an "investment.")

So, GunCo makes a commemorative GoBoom, it sells for $1500. The OTS GoBoom is $750. You buy the Commemorative, and as you walk out the door, it's now worth $750. If only because it's "used" (meaning "been purchased" in this case).

Pretty much none of "us" are going to pay full ticket on something somebody else bought, even if it was yesterday, and it's still in shrink wrap or the like. That's human nature. we want "a little something" when we buy an item we might not have been intending to.

Now, let's say it's twenty years later. Used GoBoom are now selling for $1200 (new price circa $1650). It's incredibly unlikely you will get more than the used price for your commemorative. So, the $1500 you spent twenty years ago is now $1200. That's "better" than the $750 two decades ago, but, it's been a score of years, and your original $1500 is now worth like $2294. So, no, no increase in value. Kind of a "hit" really.
Unless maybe you are a famous person who is now deceased--if Mitch WerBell had bought a commemorative, it's probably going to sell for more, but only because Mitch owned it.

Inflation can look like gain, but it isn't.
Take that $1500 and put it in savings at 1.5% and you'll have $2020.41 after twenty years (and be better than $3 grand at 2.15% inflation). That's what investment looks like.

Firearms are tool we appreciate--as in admire, contemplate, practice with to gain mastery of function. We(ought to) buy them for their own sake. This is much like collector cars. You do a car commemorative because you want to--they are always upside down when you do the book keeping.

With one important asterisk. If a commemorative's markup includes a charitable donation (or in return for one) that's different. If you make a $2000 donation to the Battlecruiser USS Deseret Foundation, and you get a commemorative pistol--the value is in the contribution, not the pistol. The imputed value of charity is more internal.

Collectors will collect, and seldom does it make sense under the financially scrutinizing eye of a non-collector.

I can say also, “you never can tell” about collectors. A lot of folks picture either stereotype of A) obsessive folks who surround every inch of their life with the trappings of their collection, or B) wealthy folks which have more money than sense, who collect things of high value because they have high value - which often only have high value because those folks will pay it. But you never can tell - I know a collector, a close family friend, a late-middle age blue collar shift worker who drives a 20 year old truck with 300-400,000 miles on it, lives in a small rural town in a small and unassuming home, but in the small back bedroom, a few large gun safes house what I’d expect is cozily over a half million dollars in original Winchester rifles and Colt revolvers. Never can tell.

Personally, I tend to disdain most commemoratives - as they are often “collectible“ only because they were made to be collectible.

Different from “Commemoratives,” in some cases, are “Limited Editions,” which are offered with special features which aren’t available to standard models are different, and folks will often pay what it costs to buy them, regardless of whether their intent is collecting or utility.

One “commemorative series“ about which I’m not quite certain of how I feel, are the Talo/Ruger “Last Cowboy” editions. They’re functionally identical to their previous standard models, but emblazoned with some (coarsely done) laser engraving, and were produced to mark the “clean up,” last individuals of a model run. In no other instance is a “last model” more valuable than an “Early model” without a significant functional upgrade, and effectively, these are commemorative to their own model line - akin to toasting yourself at your own funeral.

A friend of mine got Pennsylvania State Police commemorative model 19-4 about 18 months ago. Seller had it at $700 for a week, then $650 for 5 or 6 days, $600 another 3 or 4 days, then finally $575. After driving an hour to see it my buddy offered $550 and the guy took it. The gun looked brand new, had the wood box with sleeve around it still. They were made in 1980, so the tail end of P&R Smith and Wessons. A plain 19-4 in like new condition at the time would have sold pretty easily at $625-650.
My friend wanted it as a shooter and got a nice gun for his money.

I wanted a 30-30 for metallic silhouette and wanted it with a 24" barrel for the longer sight radius, but they are hard to find and expensive when you do find one. I stumbled onto the Winchester 94 commemorative rifles browsing Gunbroker and the "unfired" ones were outrageously expensive and some models are really gaudy. I liked the look of the Canadian commemorative rifle but at that time the ones available were in the unfired category so I bought a Theodore Roosevelt commemorative. It was also "unfired" but with no box or papers so I got it for a decent price and got a long barrel like I wanted. It has what I believe is a nickel plated action and is a bit over the top but it isn't one of the really gaudy ones. It did look unfired as I could not find any wear marks on any of the moving parts and it is an accurate rifle. Winchester made so many 94 commemoratives that there isn't really any collector value in them so I shoot it like I own it.

If the most current Blue Book of Gun Values is to be believed, generally speaking commemorative guns are a poor investment. At least those with Winchester as the canvas.

Now, had you bought a run of the mill Mateba Unica in .44 Mag say circa 2005 you would have paid approx $1600 +/-. That gun now in 100% condition is valued at $4,000 +/-. Not a bad investment.

I have 2 commemoratives. They get shot fairly routinely.