GB listings for June, 2015 - Albanian

[running-man]

Only 4 Albys this month, $375 low, $730 high, $530.02 avg.

Please let me know any feedback (good or bad) to these.

-RM

Item Number   Item Link   Description   # Bids   Final Price   Year   Arsenal Condtion   Current Condition   RM's Notes
489226369   Albanian Model 56 SKS Rifle Matching Unissued 1968   18   $730.00    1968   As-Issued   Good   It's a nice gun, but no way is it 7+ Benjamins nice...  I hate this listing just for the fact he calls it 'unissued'.  So the seller was there from '68 onward and knows exactly what happened to this gun for the entirety of it's life eh?  C'mon man, quit embellishing (aka lying) and just call it what it is: a nice all matching Alby in good shape.
489209126   Albanian SKS   3   $375.07    Uncertain   Refurbished   Good   I like this line of the sellers: "Sorry no sales to California or any other locality which restricts the sale of this item in the incomprehensible belief that this rifle is dangerous, but the average moron driving a 6000 pound SUV is perfectly safe."
485990612   ALBANIAN SKS SEMI AUTO RIFLE-SCARCE-1971 DATED   25   $466.00    1971   Refurbished   Fair   I don't know that I see a single matching S/N on this one.  The EP'd extra number on the receiver is very interesting though!!!
489994803   Albanian SKS. Rare, numbers matching original   1   $549.00    1967   As-Issued   Fair   Someone hit he BIN on this one.  Nice little early gun here with a really low S/N.  Not in the best of shape, but not a swamp donkey either.

[bbush44]

If there were only 500 Albanian SKS's made in 1968 why does this one have serial # 01272? Did they start at 1000?

Did you notice the same buyer MurraryNevada won the 68 and the 71? 

As always great work RM. 

[running-man]

Thanks Brian!    I'll get the other flavors up as soon as I'm able.  Running a but late this month due to work travel.

The last number for '67 we have in the Albanian SKS Serial Number Collection is 0969.  The first '68 gun we currently have is 01118 & the transition happened somewhere between there.  The last '68 gun we have is 01492 which gives a min '68 run of 374.  Taking the last '67 and first '69 gun in our little list gives us a max theoretical run of 946.  I guess it seems a bit ridiculous to tout 'rarity' of a gun just because it has a certain number stamped on it's side, yet is no different than a couple thousand other guns with somewhat different numbers.  It's no different than saying any /26\ Chinese type 56 from 11,000,400 to 11,000,800 is equally as 'rare' in my mind.  There's really no point to it except for talking up the gun and making it more desirable in the buyers mind.

As for MurraryNevada, I can't see the buyers as I've never 'fully' registered on GB so all I see is M***a for a winning bidder.   Maybe he's trying to corner the Albanian SKS market.  You know, that would not be terribly difficult to do with so few guns out there.  I always wondered why a very well off (think well enough to be able to drop $10k to $20k on something w/o batting an eyelash) collector didn't take a huge cut out of the very low numbers of Albys or Rasheeds that are pretty readily available.  Taking a hundred or two guns out of circulation from a population of less than 2k sure seems like a good way to influence prices by restricting supply. 

[firstchoice]

Yeah, the Albanian Model 56 SKS Rifle Matching Unissued 1968, has been issued and then some.

The Albanian SKS. Rare, numbers matching original was a good one. I bet the BIN button got hit quick. A 1967 Alby would be just fine in my collection.

If I'm reading your SN Collection Data correctly, the 489209126   Albanian SKS   3   $375.07 with the SN 06885 would put it in the 1970 manufacture date? (unless it would be a high number 1978?) That's if the Bolt Carrier matches the Receiver. The pics on some of these auctions leave a bit to be desired. And they still sell!

I just found a first , for me anyway. On your Alby SN Collection, under the 1978 mfg. date, you have 03693. I have a 1969 with SN 03693. Do you have a pic of the '78? Something kinda different. I guess it was bound to happen. It would be kinda cool to own both rifles.

firstchoice

[Loose}{Cannon]

In 76 after the break, tbey started over.  But yup, 06885 would either be a 1970 or 1978.

[running-man]

Sorry FC, I don't have photos of the '78 03693.   Worm had made up that list based on old posts and possibly other S/N collection pools.  To be honest, I don't know what the pedigree of many of those numbers are.  It's such a small pool and such a limited range of numbers that one can notice the patterns pretty quickly.  For instance, I think the 012xx-69 is a bogus entry...too many 014XX-68 guns in there for that to be legit. 

I've got photos for at least 90% of the Chinese and 100% of the Russians, but I'm severely lacking in the Alby, Romy, and trinity guns departments.  I guess there aren't enough hours in the day for me to do a 100% job on all flavors. 

[running-man]

If I'm reading your SN Collection Data correctly, the 489209126   Albanian SKS   3   $375.07 with the SN 06885 would put it in the 1970 manufacture date? (unless it would be a high number 1978?) That's if the Bolt Carrier matches the Receiver. The pics on some of these auctions leave a bit to be desired. And they still sell!

Also, you have much better eyes than me, I couldn't make out that number for the life of me!  I just left it at uncertain for the date and moved on. 

[firstchoice]

I pulled that number off the Bolt Carrier and it seems to match the stock, from what I can tell with the blurry pic of the stock. As long as the Bolt Carrier matched the Receiver, it'd be a legit assumption.

I'll take a few pics of my '69 Alby and post 'em. I had a '71 Alby, but sold it off because it wasn't all-matching. Now that I've learned more about the numbers of Albys imported, I wish that I had kept it, too. I still have the pics and SN's from it, if you want those, as well?

firstchoice

[Loose}{Cannon]

Sure..  If you guys have serials to add, just post them in the serial data thread for that nation.  Must have a verifiable pic.