- I thought I'd bring you CLERK: Some eye candy,
I thought it was a gun. [laughs] Well this is cool. BOOMER: It's a rifle put out
by Rector from the 1840s. CLERK: I like it. But I usually think of eye
candy as a pretty girl. [laughs] BOOMER: I have a hunting
rifle that was made by Rector. I'm a collector. I go out and I find
antiques, and then I'll pass them on to somebody
else to enjoy them. I would like $3,200
for the rifle. The least amount of money
that I'm willing to take is probably $1,200. CLERK: This is really neat. Where did you get this thing? BOOMER: I found it
on the internet, and did some research on it. OK. Rector made his claim to
fame by making target rifles. He put out a total of about
five of these hunting guns. And this is the very first one.
CLERK: OK. I'm not familiar with Rector. But he was a gunsmith,
obviously in Syracuse, New York. There was thousands
and thousands of gun makers in the United
States before the Civil War. Every small town had
someone who made guns. BOOMER: Yes sir. CLERK: I mean, most guns
like this, the hardware was like English
imports, French imports. Because this looks really
European right here. The whole reindeer thing,
everything going on. And you can tell this is
definitely by an American maker here, because this is
the skinny federal eagle. It was a lot skinnier
before the Civil War. And then it sort of
fattened up afterwards. Don't ask me why. BOOMER: All right. CLERK: It's interesting. I like it. This gun is really neat. But I've never heard of
the gunsmith, J. H. Rector. Early gunsmiths in America,
some are collectibles. Some are not quite collectible. So before I put a
value on this thing, I need to know
more about the gun. And I need to know more
about the gunsmith. How much you want for it? I'm going to
ask $3,200 for it. CLERK: OK. I haven't heard of
this Rector guy, so do you mind if I
have someone look at it? BOOMER: I think
that would be great. OK it is cool looking though. Thank you. CLERK: This is it. Yeah, OK. Yeah, Look at that. J. H. Rector,
Syracuse, New York. Guns made in America
before the Civil War are popular for collectors. So one of the important
things about Rector, he was really well
known for target rifles. Which this is not. This is a hunting rifle.
- Yes. ALEX CRANMER: This
actually would have been a higher quality
over-under hunting rifle. The reason you want
an over-under is it gives you two shots. So if you're actually
trying to shoot something, you'd click that hammer
back, pull the front trigger, and then this trigger. That's right. So if you missed on the first
one, or you wounded an animal and it was running away,
you'd get a second shot. You wouldn't have to
take the time to reload. I'd like to see if it's rifled. These are actually fishing
lures for nighttime. But I use them as bore lights. You drop them down,
and then we can see if the barrels are rifled. And they are, but
very, very shallow. So that means basically this
gun was really well used. Look, it's a hunting rifle. So whoever had this
probably shot a lot of game. You can tell this because the
rifling, which is what we call shot out, and the finishes
of the silver mounts has been mostly rubbed away. CLERK: So what do
you think it's worth? ALEX CRANMER: I
think a fair market value is $1,500 to $1,750. OK. ALEX CRANMER: Some of his target
rifles, where they're really heavy barreled and
they're much more ornate, those can go for $3,500,
maybe even $5,000 if you have a
really nice example. This is a hunting rifle. It's an early Rector,
so that's something. But as a gun in itself,
and it's also very worn, that all detracts
from the value. Well thanks, man. I appreciate it. ALEX CRANMER: Nice to meet you. CUSTOMER: Same here. ALEX CRANMER: Good luck. So at this point, what
are you willing to take? I think $1,200
would be a good price. I think $1,000
would be better. You know what
happens with old guns when you put them in a store? People walk up and
go, that's cool. And then walk away. It's neat, but I've got
to make some money on it. And I'll probably
sit on it for a year. How about if we
split the difference? $1,100. What the hell, $1,100 bucks. BOOMER: All right. OK, I'll meet you
right over there and we'll do some paperwork, OK? BOOMER: After
hearing the expert, I believe that $1,100 was a
fair price for both of us. There's a couple of
antiques I've had my eye on, so this will give me
a chance to buy those and do some more research.
