1) Do you buy items?
YES. We are always buying quality antique military weapons and related items, especially Civil War era firearms, Confederate arms and European imports used during the war. We are interested in single items and collections of all sizes. Please contact us via e-mail or telephone to discuss your collection and the items you are offering for sale. Please do not send images of your items unless we ask for them and are expecting them. Large image files can clog e-mail boxes easily. We make very fair and realistic offers when buying, based upon current market conditions and values. We are a business, and we have to buy at a price where we can make a profit. Please try to have an idea of what you want for your items, as it is awkward to be put in the position of both appraising and buying an item. We pledge to treat you fairly, honestly and with respect, and ask that you do the same with us. We do not participate in “auction” type situations where sellers shop a number of different dealers, looking for the one who will offer $5 more than another dealer for the same item. If you contact us to sell your items, we assume that you legitimately want to sell them. We will make you a fair offer in good faith, but we will not engage in a bidding war with other dealers. Remember that this is a small community of collectors and dealers, and chances are, we will know if you are shopping your items with others. We also do not respond to unsolicited mass e-mails to every dealer on the internet. If you want to auction your item, contact an auction house, but please do not waste the time of 20-50 dealers with the bulk e-mails, as they are really irritating.
2) Do you accept consignments?
YES. We will gladly accept your consigned items for sale. Our standard sales commission is 20% of the realized price for your item, less any credit card fees incurred if your item sells with that form of payment. Sometimes lower commission rates can be negotiated for large and valuable collections as well as for single items with values in excess of $10,000. By the same token, sometimes higher rates will apply. Particularly large collections of lower priced items ($500 and under) will be charged a much higher rate, as the the amount of work vs. return does not make sense at 20%. In general we prefer to buy items that have a retail value of under $1,000, as the amount of work keeping up with consignment payments for a large number of lower priced items can be overwhelming for a small business. Please contact us for further information and to discuss your personal situation.
3) Do you have layaway?
YES. We will gladly allow you to place an item on layaway. Typical layaway terms are 3 payments over 60 days. 1/3 is due to place the item in layaway, 1/3 is due 30 days later and 1/3 is due at 60 days. There are no refunds, returns or discounts on items placed on layaway. Layaway is typically reserved for items over $500 in value. In certain cases, we may be able to extend layaway terms to 90 days (with 25% down, and 25% due at 30, 60 & 90 days) on more expensive items. For items over $5,000, you may contact us to discuss payment options that work with your budget.
4) Do you do appraisals?
YES. We will gladly appraise your item, confirm its originality, authenticity, etc. This is a fee based service. In order to appraise your item we must be able to examine it in person, and in some cases we will need to disassemble your item as well. We cannot and will not appraise or authenticate items from pictures, descriptions, etc. We offer a range of appraisal services from simple valuation to detailed written reports. Pricing for these services vary, please contact us to determine the service that would be best for you and to receive a cost estimate. WE DO NOT ANSWER “What’s it worth?” or “What do I have?” e-mails. Also, asking "what did item FLA-XXXX" sell for is one we typically won't answer. The "Previously Sold" section is maintained for informational purposes, but also goes back many years. Collectible arms values tend to fluctuate over time and do not always go up. So asking what an item sold for which sold a few years ago is irrelevant to its current market value. Additionally, we simply do not have to time to respond to all of those kinds of questions searching for free information and free appraisals, and run a business. Please do not send images or pictures of your item to us without asking permission first, as large images can clog e-mail boxes, especially when we are traveling and not regularly downloading e-mail.
5) Why does shipping cost so much?
Because shipping is expensive. We actually lose money on almost all of our shipping charges, and never make money on them when taken as a whole. The price charged to a customer helps to defray the cost of packing materials, packing and shipping, but does not come close. A typical musket will cost between $80 and $100 to ship via USPS Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation and Insurance or UPS Ground with similar services. It costs approximately $20-$25 in packing material to box the long gun, and pack it securely with bubble wrap, packing peanuts, etc. So a typical musket costs us between $100 and $125 to pack and ship (not counting our time and labor). For this service we typically charge a flat fee of $65 for most long guns (very expensive or delicate arms will cost more) and a flat $35 for handguns. At those prices, we lose money on each gun we ship. We do everything in our power to keep shipping costs down, but as fuel prices increase the cost of postage and shipping supplies keeps increasing as well, we will have no choice but to increase our shipping charges as well.
6) May I use an image on your website for my book, PowerPoint presentation, etc.?
In general, yes, HOWEVER....you much properly credit any image that you use, otherwise you violating Federal Copyright law. Please credit any images used to "Courtesy Tim Prince/College Hill Arsenal". For NON-COMMERCIAL use (academic, research, etc) the use of the low resolution images on the site is acceptable without contacting us, as long as you properly credit the image. Any commercial user (publishing it in a book, video, or any other for profit endeavor) must contact use an ask for permission. Also, please note that images on the site are compressed 72dpi and are not publishable quality. As such, you will need to contact us to obtain the original, high resolution 300dpi image which is publishable. Please understand that not every image on the site has an original high resolution image available and none of the composite images do. In most cases the original individual images are available but the composite images are not. If you want me to reconstruct a composite image for your use as a 300dpi image, there will be charges incurred for the time spent processing and editing the images in Photoshop, at a rate $150 per hour with a 1 hour minimum per composite image.
