Sidearms & Scatterguns COLT 1878 DA Frontier

[pistolpacknpete]

i have an 1878 DA Frontier in .45 LC, it is nickel plated and very old. it has the old london adress on the barrel everything seems to be original. there was a little over 52,000 made this one's serial number is in the high 700's. the paw is broke on it so the cylinder doesnt turn and i think there is something broke off on the inside too. i looked at parts kits for em and they seem to go for around 100 bucks for them. i looked at some collectors sites and there is one for 6000 looks to be in the same condition but firing mechanism works, also the serial number is in the high 30,000's. the guy said it wasnt worth much to him and he would give me 800 for it at most. am i getting ripped off? i do want to sell it i just dont want to get ripped off here are some pictures

 

[thehjot]

Re: COLT 1878 DA Frontier

Sounds like a rip-off to me. If one that fires is worth 6,000, why would yours be worth so little? While I understand that an operating piece is worth more than one that doesn't operate, collectors don't typically buy them to fire them. So it shouldn't make THAT much difference to the price.
When my grandfather dies a few years back we found a few shoe boxes full of rusty old guns. My dad had a book, I think it was called "Modern Firearm Values" that we looked them up in. It gave very specific prices, based on the serial number or stampings/etchings of the firearm.
We sold them at auction for a pretty penny. One of the appraisers made the comment to us that it was a good thing we didn't try to clean the guns up. Apparently, removing the rust or polishing the guns would have brought the value down, just FYI.
I think you should get another professional opinion before you part with it.

 

[thehjot]

Re: COLT 1878 DA Frontier

On second thought, I believe the book was one of those "Blue Book of Gun Values" from Blue Book Publications.
See if the library by you has a recent copy.
https://store.bluebookinc.com/Firearms/Default.aspx

 

[pistolpacknpete]

Re: COLT 1878 DA Frontier

thank you. yea i knew not to clean it