That huge auction site (I will put the name here to see if it is poofed when I submit this reply like it often is on other boards - eBay) is the market place for boxes. I am constantly amazed how much they bring. It has caused me to realize that to get maximum value out of my boxed guns, I will have to separate them from their boxes and sell everything separately, including box, tools, target, literature, oil paper, etc.. That really bothers me because it does not seem right to separate something that has been together for 50 to 100 years, but it is a fact.
I saw a box for a M1908 .380 Hammerless bring about $800, and it takes a very nice M1908 pistol to bring that much. I can undestand the Pre-War National Match box that brought in that range since those pistols are really rare (2000-3000 by most estimates), but there are hundreds of thousands of M1908s. Strange.
However, the survival rate of the boxes is a small fraction of the rate for the guns themselves, so on that basis, one can understand that the boxes will be very valuable to some collectors. (I confess, I really love boxes and have paid over $200 for some.)
I am not sure a box for the most common SAA would bring more than the less common models because there should be more of the boxes for the more common models surviving. On the other hand, the demand would be higher for the more common models. But then the number of boxes for the less common models would be fewer and the competition for a rarer box would be greater.
AHHHHH! I DO NOT KNOW!
I do know that I have seen Stagecoach boxes bring more than the estimate, depending on condition, but I have seen them bring less too. Considering that that style of box has to be about 30 years old, the higher end and more seems more likely.
[This message has been edited by JudgeColt (edited 11-08-2003).]