ArmedBear -- What one also has to consider is that a Holland and Holland, Purdey, etc. is made to fit the buyer.
It's simply not worth as much to anyone else. I doubt that a new custom-fitted stock from one of these vendors is cheap.
Back to the point...
True to a point and are impossible to sell if they came with really odd cast on/off, or bent stocks for eye dominance unless you have the same problems then you got yourself a steal/deal of a lifetime...The majority of the Bespoke market whether English, Spanish, German, Italian or Belgium, is standard dimensions with a custom LOP (length of pull) and maybe slight variances to drop of heel or comb but once you pick one up and shoulder it you'll know if that gun will fit you...
If I can get a non bespoke Italian, Spanish or even a Turkish gun for a couple hundred more then a Stoeger etc., a gun with better feel between the hands, much better bluing and stock wood, cleaner lines then why shouldn't I...
NCsmitty -- If we stay focused on what the OP requested, there is no need to gravitate to discussing high end shotguns that are priced out of the reach of most hunters.
You'll be hard pressed to do better than a Stoeger SxS for the money, and they are backed by the Beretta/Benelli consortium.
They're maybe backed but not made to Beretta or Benelli fit and finish...
The problem is that guns like the Beretta, Benelli, etc. are just production guns just like the Remington, Baikal etc...They might have a little better finish, maybe a touch of engraving but they're only $1,000+ guns the same as the Mossberg, or the L.C. Smith made for Marlin, a Ugartechea or a Cesar Guerini without engraving...
I just saw a Ithaca/SKB (means Japanese made) in a used gun column for $750 and there wasn't a more plain Jayne gun out there and sold brand new for that amount 20 odd years ago...The point of the H&H is to show that used is the way to buy better quality champagne guns on your beer budget...
The problem with double and more so a SxS is that if they don't fit, feel right on the shoulder to your eye then no matter how much or little they cost they aren't worth crap to you because you'll never hit anything and unfortunately the cheaper the gun the worse the fit...It's not fancy engraving or wood that you're paying for but balance, lines, feel and properly regulated barrels and I'm not referring to bespoke guns, just run on the mill, but more expensive run of the mill guns...
Check
Shotgun Sports, Shooting Sportsman, Grey's Journal, Sporting Classics magazines for some of the better used houses (dealers) out there and they all have guns that they have taken in trade that they'll part with for little money but won't advertise in the journals because they're looking to draw a richer clientele!
Too bad that no one in the USA makes doubles anymore, Like Parker, L.C. Smith, Winchester, Ithaca, A. H. Fox -- not the replicas like Tony Galazan makes or the companies have imported from Italy or Spain under their labels but competitive, inexpensive guns of reasonable good looks and fair balance...
What gets me is that you'll (collectively speaking) spend $800 for a deer rifle and $500 for a scope to go 10 days, two weeks of the year hunting but won't spend half that for a shotgun that you can take between waterfowl and upland birds 30, 40+ days worth and where fit is drastically important to make the shot...
