Ok, someone has to be the voice of reason here....
Hell yea!! Dump that safe queen and get ya a real handgun......
To me a pretty gun is like those dishes your going to bring out for dinner today, they sit in a cabinet all year just taking up room and don't dare use one or far worse chip it or scratch it. They are made to shoot, and enjoy, if you cannot bring yourself to do either, what is the purpose of having them? Investment? In what, something your not going to use, so you can trade it off on something else your not going to use? For hard times, if you need a buck, do you feel that this would be the first on the list to go if your in that situation? Are they to be left to heirs, who may or may not even appreciate them? Might as well pick out a nice brick and have it gold plated.
Or you could simply take that great piece of workmanship and put it to use like it was meant to be. If you don't go around tossing it here and there whilly nilly and are reasonably careful with it, you can have the best of both worlds. Just don't tie it to a string and drag it around with you, get it somethin nice to ride in and get on with enjoying it. I appreciate a well used firearm which has been taken care of but has some character to it. Yes there are times when you will get a small ding in the grip or what not, maybe wear a little of the bluing around the cylinder and muzzle, but these are to me signs of appreciation like a well loved friend, not a depreciation in value.
Having a firearm that simply is too pretty to use is like buying a 4x4 truck to sit in the driveway, or run around town to the grocery store, and never get off the pavement. Or even worse, buying any pick up with a 6' or shorter bed to use as a town car. I purchase things to use, and I use them for what they were designed to be used for, sometimes even for things they weren't designed specifically for. Both of 4x4 have scratches on them from going to the woods and getting me to where I want to go. When I get rid of them, I have gotten my money's worth out of them, just like my firearms.
Oh yea, I LUV those ol ugly Redhawks, and if they ever made a Smith that was half the gun they were I would luv them too.