Driftwood Johnson
Member
Howdy
I am just a couple of years younger than you. I attend a lot of auctions. Generally speaking, the guys who win the bids on the high dollar, collectable antique firearms, both C&B and cartridge, are our age or older. Guys old enough to have made a good deal of money in their lives, who have enough free cash to indulge in buying expensive toys. I know some of them are dealers, who expect to turn a profit. Others are private collectors. I cannot recall ever seeing a guy in his 40s or younger winning a bid on a big ticket item. What the ages are of the phone bidders and online bidders are, I have no idea. But that has been my observation attending auctions.
The Centennial of the Civil War is what got the whole replica arms industry started. Val Forgett II was already in the surplus arms business with his Service Arms company. He realized that the publicity surrounding the upcoming Centennial of the start of the Civil War would generate a lot of interest in CW firearms. In 1959 he approached Aldo Uberti and they began a collaboration which resulted in a replica of the Colt Navy revolver. Forgett started a new company and named it Navy Arms in honor of the first model. The rest is history.
150 years? Not so much. I was aware of it, but I did not expect much. I would not blame the media, 150 years is just not as big a deal as 100 years.
Guys, this topic has been raised many times. The answer is always the same. We are talking about a niche market here. No manufacturer, who does not want to lose his shirt, is going to go out on a limb and put in the time and money required to bring out a new product unless he is sure there is a market for it. A few guys on gun boards clamoring for something does not necessarily translate into a market.
Anybody remember the recent fiasco when a company was formed to manufacture the Merwin Hulbert revolvers? Lots of orders taken, eventually nothing came of it.
Now, for something completely different, how about a Tranter?
