Customer Reviews

Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms... and Their Values

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Flayderman's has not revised gun values since 2001. They put a date on the reverse of the fly page of 2004, but it just a re-print of the one compiled in 2000 and printed in 2001. I hope others are not fooled like I was thinking they are getting an updated book. I feel I wasted my money. Gun values have changed too much in the last few years, and I find this book worthless.

As a collector of Civil War carbines, this is the most important book I own for my hobby. There is wonderful background information for novice and professional alike. The number and quality of entries is phenomenal. The information about each gun includes a bit of history, model descriptions, number manufactured, markings, variations; everything that is essential to the collector. Just a couple of nits -- the values quoted are usually low, and some variants of guns have a "scarce, worth premium" note. It would help to know what that premium is, even an approximation. All things considered, this book is a must have for every gun collector.

This book is indispensible for collectors and sellers. The text provides excellent information not found in other publications that cover such a wide variety of items. The only consistent deficiency I found is its pricing. Pricing does not match with publications printed annually that are dedicated more to current firearms value than the value of information provided by Flayderman's. As with anything, no one is always right or wrong. I recommend this book based on the historical research done by Mr. Flayderman.

This is the authoritative book on antique firearm values. It has lots of excellent information on gun collecting in the opening chapters. The following chapters on values are well organized and illustrated. There are other similar books on the market, but I feel this one is the best .

I absolutely agree with one of the testimonials on the back cover of the book that ...if I had to settle for only one book in my entire arms library it would unquestionably be FLAYDERMAN'S GUIDE. One cannot collect Antique American arms without this book. It truly is indispensible and deserves what other collectors have said about it being "The Bible". 7 editions are living proof.

I bought the first Flayderman's when it came out as I was deeply into muzzleloading antiques. This book continues the excellence and timeliness of the information. Like any such book the prices are approximate and do not reflect individual tastes or objectives. The prices are, however, the most uniform reference you can find
It is, without question, still the best reference book available for American arms in the period covered.

Overall the book is decent, I have found that realistically prices in this book are low (at least for early model Colt revolvers,..dragoons, 1851 Navy, 1860 Army, etc..) As this is my only area of expertise, I cannot comment on the pricing of rifles, autos, etc....

This books strongest point is the amount of detail it provides.

I am an ardent collector of antique firearms. Flayderman's is an absolutely essential resource with detailed information about practically every firearm ever produced in early America. There simply is nothing comparable.

One may disagree with some of the prices given but if a novice collector bought only one book, this should be it for the wealth of information found within its almost 700 pages of photos and text. Whether your area of interest is Civil War arms, Indian guns, air and spring guns, or even whaling guns you'll find this book helpful. My only criticism is the arrangement of the index and that was the responsibililty of the publisher.

the body and text of the guide is excellent. but the values are a good 8 years out of date. you could easily add 20% to some of these values. Hopefully they will come out with a revised version next year. It is a great reference, don't trust the prices.