HOLY COW!

Aw . . . geeze . .. . and I just threw out a half-dozen like that last week when I cleaned up an old storage room! :D

Very interesting - thanks for posting! For the serious collector (and I do mean SERIOUS collector) . . . I suppose those are as rare as hen's teeth and probably only surface once in a coon's age. I imagine whoever purchased it is happy to have it. :)
 
Howdy

You know what they say about a fool and his money.

The Red Picture Boxes were produced from 1933 until 1941. The SN on the back of the box is 672538. The K22 First Model was produced from 1931 until 1940, SNs ran from 632124 until about 682419. So that box came with a gun towards the end of the production run. I have a K22 SN 6444XX and it shipped in January of 1932. I know where there is a very nice First Model K22 on sale for $1500, the price Roy Jinks himself suggested. Paying more than that for a box, no matter what condition it is in, is simply ludicrous. That's why I don't frequent on line auctions.
 
The Red Picture Boxes were produced from 1933 until 1941. The SN on the back of the box is 672538. The K22 First Model was produced from 1931 until 1940, SNs ran from 632124 until about 682419. So that box came with a gun towards the end of the production run. I have a K22 SN 6444XX and it shipped in January of 1932. I know where there is a very nice First Model K22 on sale for $1500, the price Roy Jinks himself suggested. Paying more than that for a box, no matter what condition it is in, is simply ludicrous. That's why I don't frequent on line auctions.
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Driftwood, I pretty much feel the same. To each his own but like I said I could get one or more pretty good S&W revolvers for that much cash. Out of curiosity I'm going to keep a eye out on 'ol EB and other sites to see if another one comes up and see what they go for.
 
Good Grief!!!

I just had a mind's eye picture of a time traveler going back to the 1930's, going into a big gun store buying their entire stock of K-22 Outdoorsman revolvers (lets say 10) and then outside the store, laughing manically he carefully opens each box, throws the gun out over his shoulder and then backs the now empty box in his bag for his return to the future.

"Skins are the best part!" someone heard him exclaim before he returned to the present.
 
I'm betting on a couple of things being true, here...

This box was purchased by a HARD CORE collector, for whom it will become an integral part of his collection.

He's been looking for a long time, and is willing to pay top dollar.

The boxes are far rarer than the handguns. After all, who among us keeps the packaging for items that MIGHT someday be collectible.

If I'm correct, and it has been purchased by someone looking for it for his collection, I understand.

I collect some items for which I am willing to pay HEAVILY, even in excess of the accepted "normal" price, because they are hard to find and they would fill holes in my personal collection. I have no thought or even care about the resale value, because to me there never will be a resale.
 
Those S&W cleaning kits that used to come with their guns, are also bringing some very good money.

I wanted to buy one for a S&W model 66 with a 4" bbl. Way to spendy for me. :(
 
You never know, the collector may have the gun the box goes to. If I ever saw the box that my Registered Magnum for sale, I am not sure how much I would go to get it but $1600 is no where near the end price.
 
That's the thing with collecting, you either pay or you are done collecting. There is always going to be that one thing you can't find and then there it is..........
 
-that someone is assembling a complete and complex collection.
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The kids are watching for that already. If they ever got evidence I paid that much for a cardboard box I'd be shipped off to the 'home' so fast my head would spin.
 
After all, who among us keeps the packaging for items that MIGHT someday be collectible.
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Me!

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Oh, I'm not kidding myself that these blue boxes with the cleaning kits still sealed in their plastic bags are ever going to be worth a lot of money. But I still have the goodies that came with my Model 19 and Model 17 when I bought them brand, spanky new in 1975. I have kept them because I keep everything related to guns when I buy them.

These days, when I buy an old gun, sometimes I get lucky and the dealer has the original box the gun came with.

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But I guarantee you that I don't pay more for the gun just because it includes the box, and I have only once bought an old box without the gun. For about $5. A very few folks have the kind of disposable income that they can pay a ridiculous amount of money for an empty box, no matter how rare and how fine the condition.
 
Here are a couple more because the forum only allows 7 photos per post.

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Anyway, I love old revolvers and I love old boxes, but spending more for a box then I would for a gun, no matter how rare and how well preserved, is just not something I would do.
 
I'm betting on a couple of things being true, here...

This box was purchased by a HARD CORE collector, for whom it will become an integral part of his collection.

He's been looking for a long time, and is willing to pay top dollar.

The boxes are far rarer than the handguns. After all, who among us keeps the packaging for items that MIGHT someday be collectible.
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A couple months back I was in a gun shop and got caught up in a conversation between two hard core S&W collectors.

It is a little extreme. To serve that market, there are people out there now who will refurbish the molded plastic box liners that have inevitably cracked and detiorated with age.
 
Driftwood,

I should have specified things OTHER than guns.

I keep OEM boxes for my guns.

But it appears that most people don't.


I'm talking about other things, like kids toys, etc., on the off chance that they might someday become valuable when the well played with toy is magically reunited with the now tattered box.
 
Well, I do understand the "hardcore collector" argument, but for a box to go that price... we need to mention that there was some OTHER influence. One crazy guy does not make the price reach that level. So... there must have been two crazies chasing after that box on that day. :p

And in looking at the bids... there were four unique folks bidding that box up very high. 1 of them opted out at $970 but the other three people were fighting for it after it eclipsed a thousand dollars.

It becomes a little more interesting to discuss it's "worth" when four different people are stepping up with cash in hand and saying "to me, that box is worth a thousand dollars or more."

One could also make the argument that four guys who are ready, willing and able to pay a thousand dollars for an empty cardboard box might have a little insight in to it's "value" over a group of people who wouldn't pay more than $5 for it.

In the end, it'll will really only be that -- an argument. Or a discussion, if you prefer. It's like some of the cars on the Barret-Jackson auctions. Are they REALLY worth that kind of money? Well, it depends on your argument. If it's a real auction and a real person spent the money and another real person bid him up that distance, then... yeah, I suppose the facts are there to support the argument that (at least on THAT day) it certainly was worth it.
 
If it were the actual box to one of my collectible guns, well, the sky is the limit. Sure I would have winced at paying that much money for a box for say a 38/44 HD but my Registered or one of my Pre-War 38/44 Outdoorsman's? I would have gone higher and be plenty happy I did.

How often do you have the opportunity to reunite a gun with its box after say 80 years? How much is just the story worth to you of being able to say you did it?

This is what drives collectors to spend lots of money on little things like the box.
 
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