What's the big deal about "The Box!!"

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redneck2

redneck2

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Went to the local store to see what one of my guns would be worth on a trade. First thing out of the guy's mouth..."You got the box???"..then he stands there with the deer in the headlights look. Now mind you, I don't have the gun with me.

I'd ask condition, age, caliber, does it work well.....something that would be WAY more important (at least to me) than a cheap cardboard box. Went to 3 stores and this was the first question at two of them. They tell me that having the box adds to the value.

Dunno why, but this just irritates the crap out of me. You can't shoot the box (well, you can but they make a lousy target). They take up a lot of room in storage, and nowdays most of the boxes are just cheap brown paper that falls apart anyway.

Mebbe a hundred years from now the box will be a big novelty for somebody, but I ain't gonna be here to enjoy it so I really don't care.

So, somebody 'splain to me what the big deal is
 
It's a collector's thing. In order to have something in mint condition it has to be in the original box. (If you think gun stores are bad, don't ever talk to someone who collects action figures...)

There are some who want the original packaging that a product came in, and they're willing to pay for it. Hence the value of an object goes up if it still has the original box, even though the box is just a piece of cardboard.
 
I say it a lot. I don't really want it...I just want to mentally knock the seller down about twenty bucks.

It seems to work.

Tricksy and false...:evil:
 
Scum-bag retailers want the box so they can lie and sell the gun New in Box.
Honest retailers want the box so they can sell the gun Like New in Box.
 
I have two Sigs in my collection. Both came in the same generic plastic box. Same with the Kimber. These things weren't even molded to the gun. Can't for the life of me see what they add to anything. It's not like it's a velvet-lined lacquered hardwood case with brass furniture or something.
 
I like having the box if at all possible. The Desert Eagle box is at least 10% of the cost it's so big! My Sig box was large and fit my 225 like a shoe. I would like the box for my S&W model 37, etc.
 
Interesting

I've never put any thought into it, but I actually keep the boxes and manuals for all my guns that I bought new. Like GSB says, they all pretty much look the same, but I'll certainly keep up the practice.
 
Well, I'm thinking it may be artificial.

Everybody who buys a used gun wants the box because...

if they ever sell it, they know whoever is going to buy it is going to want the box.
 
It must be a local thing. I've sold and traded probably fifty rifles over the past five years and never been asked that. Mind you, I'm selling at a discount but still. It's an odd request. I can see if the rifle is billed as "brand new in the box", but used??

Maybe local collectors like to feel and smell old cardboard, who knows.
 
You get that a lot in pawn shops and some less-reputable used gun stores. Although there is a valid reaon sometimes for having "the box", i.e. the factory box that says "SIG-Sauer", "Smith & Wesson", or something like that, the plain old cardboard brown thing that some guns come in, usually filled with styrofoam peanuts is just nitpicky. Seems to me that means that the clerk isn't interested in buying it in the first place and is just trying to put you off the idea, doesn't want to be bothered, or is just being a :cuss: .

Sometimes I ask for the "box' too- get some distressed and perplexed looks sometimes, but it's fun to occassionally turn the tables on them.

ANM
 
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