what does provenance have to do with value of a weapon?

[da gimp]

most "souveniers"were bought cheap after WWII when the market was flooded with great weapons & the story changed from when Dad/Grandpa fought, it was against ones like this one, to being this is the one dad/grandpa brought back. But a bunch were also brought back, if you can find a nice stock set, buy it...... if it's not reblued...

[pelago]

i dont think it was reblued, it is a 1939 98, metal is superb, and is quite even can see a trace of outline where the old stock covered metal, someone took the stock and cut if off and did a circa 1955 sporter job on it, no holes for scope mounts though , and even some of the serial numbers match, trigger guard and cover are the same as rifle, bolt is also same, if i am patient and do it right can probably come up with a good stock, or maybe buy a screwed up 98 metal wise and convert it to a hunter for grandsons and swap out. as far as 98's go this one would be a keeper, and i have several grandchildren left to build rifles for, but it is a shooter now, holds sub minute on rest at 100, with std 8 mm ammo,

too bad the stock was cut down because it is a handsome piece of wood

[Johnny P]

Having a weapon that is pictured in a reference book is always nice, but unless the weapon had provenance prior to it being in the book it still has no provenance. The private collector apparently didn't place much value on the weapon and must have sold it rather cheaply.

[pelago]

you are probably correct, just kinda funny/neat that reading about a particular type of rifle and lo and behold you see the serial number of a rifle you bought five years earlier...
maybe provenance was and is the wrong word
anyway was and is kinda cool and a nice rifle since i paid next to nothing for it, that same day i bought a semi converted K98 ad KAR98a and a M1 carbine all for less than 450.00 us dollars
all from same guy. other than they were sitting on ablanket covered table and were cheap, that is all i know, could have been estate deal, whatever

[da gimp]

sounds like ya did great, as long as you got a driver's license verified bill of sale.............with models & serial #'s on it for each.......

[Prez1981]

Had a similar situation with a Reising Model 60...purchased it for a decent price and thought the serial number was odd. Turns out the original late-1942 sales invoice for the rifle is published in the Reising book. No idea what value it adds to the rifle, but it makes it a bit more interesting.