Dec GunBroker Sales and 2011 averages

[boomer34]

Happy New Year to all. Here are the December GunBroker Sales and some averages for the year. The year did not yield any real pattern for Russian SKS sales which this is a record of. It was a shock to see a refurb sell in March for $961 when some nonrefurbs sold in the low $300s. There were some ex DDRs, some Letter Series and a few Ishevsks sold. See Drago's comments on the "Rare" side of this equation. The Izzys generally sold for respectable prices and the other varied. There was a 49 refurb or two that got attention but not wild prices. A 53 Izhevsk refurb showed up but nary a 53 Izhevsk original.

There were 425 rifles sold for the year with the average high being $705, the average low being $266 and the average for all Russian sales being $411. In In December the high was $605, the low $260 and the average $404.
Four Letters, one possible ex DDR, four nonrefurbs (originals for OO) and two Izzys were sold.

For potential sellers on GunBroker a presentation should have enough pictures to let a pospective buyer know what he is getting. Pics of the key points of the rifle are essential. The serial number, the top of the receiver cover, the handguard for ex DDRs and the left side of the stock need to be there and as clear as you can make them.

Happy selling and buying for the New Year.

[desdem12]

I find this very helpful and also very informative and also quite detailed. Averages and actual high and lows. very nice stuff here. Do the sales seem to drop off like that every year or is this the first year of your research?

[OLD OUTLAW]

Thanks Boomer. # of sales were down last month. Well, the Holidays can easily do that. I expect demand and prices to go up as soon as people start getting tax refund money.

[boomer34]

I have been doing this for about 2 and 1/2 years. The # of sales vary, depending on the mood of buyers and the quality of rifles up.

[martin08]

Goes to show that a nice Russian SKS is going to set you back $400 and change in this day and age. I know a lot of collectors from the ten to twenty years ago will say that no SKS is worth $400. Well, they are worth it! And many sell for a tad more.

Thanks for the diligence and hard work, Boomer. That's good stuff.

[OLD OUTLAW]

Goes to show that a nice Russian SKS is going to set you back $400 and change in this day and age. I know a lot of collectors from the ten to twenty years ago will say that no SKS is worth $400. Well, they are worth it! And many sell for a tad more.

Thanks for the diligence and hard work, Boomer. That's good stuff.

Happy New Year Matt!
Martin is correct on on value, if you want a Russian SKS, you need to be looking now. Especially if you want a real clean original as-issued one, because
that is a higher price than a beat up one.

Now Martin, it is 2012. That funky red hat needs to go. Need to once again look like our Moose!

[MN Fan]

I expect demand and prices to go up as soon as people start getting tax refund money.

Hmmm, my plans have been found out!

Thanks for posting this Boomer! Nice work...and it is appreciated

[OLD OUTLAW]

I expect demand and prices to go up as soon as people start getting tax refund money.

Hmmm, my plans have been found out!

Thanks for posting this Boomer! Nice work...and it is appreciated

Better sell one of those caddies and buy a few guns MN.

[boomer34]

Matt is right and the numbers do not lie. A good Russian, and that includes laminated refurbs, will set you back some $400+. A really good one, a nonrefurb or an Izhevsk (refurbed too) will bring over $500 and it can go higher. There is a sense of denial in some areas (the Russians are not worth over $99.95, like all the rest of the SKS world school of thought) that will allow those of us willing to seek out these rifles to obtain what we want and those in denial who will end up with holes in their collections. Beleive me, there are not that many real good ones that hit the market anymore.

[OLD OUTLAW]

The market demand for the good Russians is higher than the supply in all reality now.

[Longcolt44]

Great info boomer. Can you tell wht the % of increase in prices that has been shown over the last 2 1/2 years?

[OLD OUTLAW]

That is a tough one for him on a category basis But, if you apply to an as-issued original I will guess 50% or more in 2 1/2 years. Most likely more.
Getting to be less and less originals go up for sale. I have a couple I bought very early this year, originals, that were $375 to $450. Excellent Grade.
If you tried to buy one of these right now on GB where the figures come from, they will sell for say $500 and $600 plus respectively. May be more on the later one.
Not only are these rifles a piece of History to cherish, the good well kept and unmodified ones only grow in value.

[Longcolt44]

Thanks O. I meant to say overall, not year or model specific. Hummmm, I was trying remember just what folks with 401K or stocks did???

[OLD OUTLAW]

The originals this year and last far exceeded any of the markets I can assure you. The average refurb, I'm not sure. Hopefully Boomer may have an idea on just them. A real nice refurb with an excellent shape Laminate stock does very well though.

[boomer34]

I don't keep up a count of originals versus refurbs. The prices can swing wildly from month to month.I will say this though, a good clean laminated stocked SKS properly representated is an eye catcher and can draw solid bids. I believe that is why you see them draw $500 or more. An original can look pretty bad and be bypassed or picked up for modest dollars.

Looking back at the early numbers in my postings, and these were not broken out like I do now, I would say there has been a solid 10-15% increase in the average prices of the Russian SKS. OO is correct that the very good originals have had about a 50% increase in that period of time.

[Longcolt44]

Cool, thanks Boomer.

[Drago]

Boomer, this is DEFINITELY the right forum to post this report! At least here, it's appreciated!

[boomer34]

Seems to be the case Drago.

Can you pull the numbers off you spread sheets that would indicate the number of refurbs sold, their average price, the number of nonrefurbs sold and their average price for last year? It would make a base to start monthly comparisions from about the change in prices.

Just pulling out the December prices 21 refurbs averaged $398 and 3 nonrefurbs averaged $495. There was a $355 nonrefurb that got by people and that pulled that average way down. Otherwise the nonrefurb average would have been around $550.

I am saving my xl monthly spread sheet in a seperate file that I can email you if you want to use them to help compile your stats. It should be "live" when you get it. I have only saved December and will do the same for the coming months.

[OLD OUTLAW]

Boomer! It is very easy for me to see more appreciation for your work here than over there. At least here we do not have the video gamers and mall ninjas looking to buy one cheap and cut it apart to make an imitation AK. The Russians, Yugo M59, and Romanians are disappearing at an accelerating rate
to those chop jobs. And, I am not just talking about the as-issued ones. It's all of them disappearing now. So few rifles, so many Bubba's.

[MN Fan]

Outlaw, as you are aware, I am still a wannabe in the SKS world. But I can already agree with your comments. As I am researching on Google, 80% of what I find is how to modify this, add that, cut here, drill there...its endless. To top it off, you can buy just about any aftermarket device you can dream of. Very little information I've found has anything to do with the history or real story behind these weapons. Fortunately, like you all, there's some die hard preservationists out there that dedicate a large portion of their lives to collecting and telling the stories. I know you've heard it before...but I for one am very glad you all came this way. Your dedication is both appreciated and respected