Every year an old collector has a stroke.
The unfired Colt snake he meticulously cared for in the past sits unattended. His children aren't interested in firearms and have no idea how to care for them and the spouse doesn't either. The CLP evaporates in the first year. That perfect blue finish starts to rust by the end of the second. By the time the collector dies five years later the gun is at best a shooter.
When the spouse dies five or ten years after that the firearm is hardly functional. Best salvaged for parts. The kids try to decide what to do with the safe they don't know the combination to. They finally decide to pay a locksmith to open it. They find an old cardboard box for one of the guns, but it yellowed and the corners torn. Looks like trash so they toss it.
They bundle up all the firearms in a blanket and throw them in the trunk. The guns bounce around in the trunk on the trip to the local gun shop. When they get there the manager comes out to give a quote for the whole lot. Extensive surface rust, pitting, dented stock and scratches from the mishandling in transport. He offers $1000 for the old snake, the Browning A5, the remington 700v BDL 30-06, along with a few other odds and ends, and the kids feel lucky to get it.
ANd a couple of these old guns that were not long ago pristine collector items will go onto the used rack as rough shooters, refinished as non-collectibles, or scavenged for parts.
The price on all o these old guns is going to rise rise rise. In good times at a quick pace, in bad times even faster.