One Heck of a Birthday Gift
 

I've been sitting on this info for a couple of weeks (I had to promise I wouldn't tell anyone until the 25th).
Here is a birthday gift to Jerry Bruckheimer from his wife.
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Antique (not a repro) Colt .45, fully engraved and gold-plated with carved ivory grips. Custom hand-carved leather holster & belt (both deer-skin lined) complete with gold-plated buckle and bullets.
My father did the belt & holster, so that's how I know about this. My father got to put his hands on the gun and said that the engraving is the nicest he's even seen. We estimate the whole deal is in the neighborhood of $25k (the pistol had an antique value of ~$4k before it was ruined...er, I mean engraved and plated.
It's the most pimptastic birthday gift I've even seen!

I could find a much better use for 25K, but to each his own.

The detail is pretty awesome.

Wait, some jackass refinished and engraved an original Peacemaker?!

I hope the gunsmith responsible did the job, took the money, and then pistol-whipped the...individual...responsible. With the Peacemaker. Then I hope he crushed his own balls in a vise as penance for mucking up a masterpiece like that. If the engraving and such had been original, yeah, it woulda been worth an hellacious chunk of change. As it is now, whatever value it has beyond the sentimental is in the engraving (which is -very- well-executed, btw) and the gold finish; the -gun- is now basically worthless. Resale value for anyone other than Liberaci or collectors of engraving rather than guns is now about $300.00

Now your dad's leatherwork, on the other hand, is gorgeous. I especially like the stippled tooling on the holster! If I'm ever in the market for some "dress" leather I'll sure know where to look.

So....I take it it was a bad thing to engrave this? What's so special about this Colt and why is it $3,000?

Dunedan, I'll pass on your compliments to my father.
Check out his site if you'd like Home. He can do whatever you're in the mood for, "dress" or otherwise.

Very. Antique gun collectors expect a gun to look its' age; originality is much more important than flash in gun collecting. Refinish any gun, and you cut the collector-resale value by a minimum of 50%.

It -was- an original Colt Peacemaker of late 19th/early 20th-century production. These guns have been around forever and many were used with corrosive ammo and in corrosive environments, especially in the blackpowder days, so there aren't a lot left in circulation that work. For the gun's exposed metal surfaces to be flat/even enough and consistant enough for that kind of highly detailed engraving, it would have had to have been in pretty damned nice condition to begin with, which explains the $3,000 price tag. You don't repaint Ming vases, and you don't refinish antique firearms.

Ah, gotcha. Still, it looks nice.

I guess that makes Bruckheimer the man with the.................golden gun?

That is a silly thing to do to a gun like that. should have just did it to a replica. no one would know the difference if it was a good one and you wouldnt ruin a old gun. I do like the belt though. Wish i had the knowledge and skill to do that kinda thing.