Standard Catalog of Colt Firearms. Rick Sapp

are many collectors who specialize in Colt semi-automatics and machine guns and newer stuff. Some people collect only the commemorative issues. So for each person it is different. That kernel of itch and interest pushes us all in a little different direction.

      With the antique guns, there is a lot of nostalgia connected to collecting them and they will consistently go up in value more than anything you can think of, including the stock market.

      RS: So which of the old Colts do you collect? The Patersons? Percussion Era guns?

      Ed: Well, I don’t go back that far. A real Paterson in good condition today would probably cost between $200,000 and $300,000. And in the single actions, some of those guns run to $40,000 or $50,000.

      I am in the Percussion Era, though, and the Dragoons are a little bit more in my price range. For an authentic Dragoon, you’re probably talking about $5,000.

      RS: Do you do any cowboy shooting, Ed? Are you a member of the Single Action Shooting Society?

      Ed: I don’t do any cowboy shooting. Even though I could shoot some of the guns I own, I don’t. When you pay a certain amount of money – and some people will disagree with this – you don’t want to stick a bullet in it and risk blowing it up. Old guns are made of old steel and I know of people who have bought a single action gun from the 1880s and they just had to shoot it so they put a modern round through it and blew up the gun.

      RS: A gun from the 1880s would have been built in the black powder era, wouldn’t it, so pressures and proof testing and what-not would be different.

      Ed: Now, if you shot that 1880s gun with a light black powder load, you might not have any problem. I have the reloading knowledge and even have all the black powder components here, so I could go out and shoot, but I don’t want to. For me, it’s more about collecting. I just want to look at this piece. I’ve got a Burgess rifle sitting above the window here in my office and I look at it all the time and I want to think of what cowboy had this gun; what sheriff or bad guy had this. If the gun could only talk it would probably tell some great stories.1 But as far as taking that gun down and putting a bullet in it and shooting, well I could with no problem, but I don’t have the desire to do that.

      RS: I understand that most dedicated collectors would never shoot the guns in their collection. In fact, with a commemorative gun a single shot would cause minor scratches and detract from its value, and with an antique gun … well, what’s the point?

      Ed: That’s partially true. Parts just are not available for many of these old guns unless a collector can get something hand made and that would simply destroy the gun’s re-sale value. So you’re right on that account: what would be the point?

      With commemoratives, some collectors like them because they want a mint gun in the box and they are certainly not going to run a round through it. They become valuable because Colt just doesn’t make these guns anymore.

      I prefer the older stuff that I can cock, though, guns that I can oil and take care of short of firing a round through them.

      RS: So your guns are mechanically in good condition, but you choose not to shoot them. Do most collectors do maintenance to this extent?

      Ed: You still have a lot of people who think that if the gun came to them this way, it’s just a “leave it alone” proposition; they don’t do anything to it. But you’ve also got a number of the modern collectors who want the gun working, at least functional even though they won’t go out and shoot it. It gives them some satisfaction to know that they could go out and shoot it if they wanted to.

      RS: Would you say that it takes several thousand dollars to begin serious collecting?

      Ed: No, it doesn’t, because even a lot of the early Sturm-Rugers from the ‘50s are collectible today. A lot of other companies are becoming collectible, too. The Iver Johnsons, for instance, and lots of off the wall guns. Even the so-called “Saturday night specials” are becoming collectible and you can start out buying those guns for $150 to $200.

      Colt collecting is like the Cadillac of gun collecting, the ultimate. Colt and Winchester. Not that some of the other guns aren’t reaching peaks on rarity and getting up there like Colt. But Colt and Winchester are still the top of the line of collecting, and it seems like everybody wants a Colt or a Winchester. Take Winchester. The old line company is gone now. The manufacturing factory is closed. They’re no longer in business. If that happens to Colt, everybody is going to want a piece of the history of Colt and prices for Colt guns are going to go through the roof.

      RS: So what do collectors say about Colt? What’s the future look like?

      Ed: It’s hard to say what’ll happen to Colt. They still produce guns for us consumers, but it’s got to come out of the Custom Shop so that’s limited in quantity. It’s just depends on their management and ownership. I don’t want to speak publicly about Colt, but I don’t know where they are going to go, either. Colt is an icon, but I’ve even seen articles that have said they’ve gone out of the commercial business. Of course, Colt says it’s going to be around a long time, but whether they are or not, I don’t know.

      RS: When somebody gets into collecting Colt or Smith & Wesson or any other brand, will they get to a point where they want to show off their collection, say at the annual meeting of the Colt Collector’s Association … or do most people keep their guns locked away and private for safe keeping?

      Ed: The Collector’s Association holds a convention somewhere in the U.S. every year. But there again, I live in Nevada and if the convention is in West Virginia, that’s a long drive. I’m lucky this year because the convention is in Reno and I’m right here.

      As far as showing off fine collections of guns, that’s nice, but I know guys who have a lot of guns and they don’t show them at all.

      I think a lot of collectors don’t want to display their guns. They keep them under lock and key. Some of the people who can afford it eventually build some kind of place to show their gun collection. I know guys in the CCA who have vaults and have their guns hanging up on display in there so they can just go in and look up and enjoy them any time they want, but that costs quite a bit of money.

      RS: When someone decides to get into collecting, is it customary for them to identify some niche that interests them, and then concentrate on it? I’m thinking, for instance, of collecting all variations of the New Police, or Single Action Army or Pre-1911 Colt Semi-Autos.

      Ed: I think the urge to collect stems from someone’s background with guns, like in hunting. They find a gun that interests them and they read a little and begin to learn more and, pretty soon, they find another gun that is of similar interest but maybe just a little different and they buy that and read and learn a little more.

      It takes a good size library to collect guns. You can’t just run out and buy guns without reading and learning about them, and about the marketplace. Now, some people do, but they are the ones who usually get hurt because they don’t know what they are buying and they pay too much. Let’s face it. You can pay any kind of astronomical price for a gun. If you want it, but the guy who owns it doesn’t want to let go of it, he’ll put a very high price on it – and if you want it bad enough, you’ll have to pay that high price if you want to own it bad enough. I guess, in that way, it’s no different than if you collect automobiles.

      I do believe that you’ve got to have an extensive library of books. I’ve probably got between 50 and 100 books about guns and I’ve read and studied most of them, especially the parts about what I want to collect or trade. Eventually your knowledge builds from just hanging around collectors, and buying and selling a few guns.

      I don’t think I started off collecting and decided, “Well, I’m going to just collect Pythons.” Of course, I don’t collect Pythons. That’s a new gun, but some guys do collect them because they like them.

      I happen to collect