1874 Mid-Range #3

Gravity Railroad · Post by **Gravity Railroad** » Sat May 08, 2004 7:02 pm

Greetings to All,

One of the many benefits that this forum offers is shared knowledge. So, my intent here is to share so others will have a frame of reference in case they stumble across the same model.
My wife and I went to the Mid Atlantic Arms Collector Gun Show in Allentown PA today. The gun that caught my eye was a Model 1874 #3 Mid-Range S/N 156586 that the tag said was 1 of 3. The dealer was nowhere to be found my first time past this table. The gun was in good condition. Not 100% but not beat up either. In my opinion, perhaps 75%-80%. It had the Sporting peep sight.
I came back later and the dealer was there. The dealer did not instill confidence because he could not remember the caliber. He said he had the letter out in the car, but thought that it was 40-60? or 40-65?
Yeh, I know, “40-60”, his words. I did not have anything to measure the length of barrel nor did I ask the dealer what the barrel length was. Sellers book has some variations on barrel length.
On page 230 in Sellers book, it says there were four #3 produced, not 3 as the dealer indicated. The caliber was probably 40/70 2.25in BN. When I started to walk away, he wanted me to make him an offer.

The dealer was asking $19,500. I am not an expert on original Sharps. Maybe this is a fair price. I do not know. My only intent here is to share. (If I was asking 19,500 for a Sharps, I sure would know everything about it).

All the best,

Dave

8iowa · Post by **8iowa** » Sat May 08, 2004 7:51 pm

I's been quite a few years since I've been to the Allentown Show, but as I recall it is like most other gun shows (larger Perhaps) that have a pretty broad range of wares available.

Original Sharps rifles are advanced collector's items. I'd recommend the Baltimore Antique Arms Show, held every third week in March. There are other quality shows as well, but this one is close to you, and the dealers are serious and knowledgeable, and the show has a rigid screening process. At the last show, I saw an original 1877 Sharps Creedmore offered at $35.000. An authentic rare Sahrps may very well be worth $19,500, but you definitely want to have confidence in who you are dealing with and know that they will stand behind their transaction.