new empire shotgun

Question
i have a shotgun my dad bought in the year 1931. its a new empire, double barrel shotgun and its in good condition.   i was wondering what the value is of it now.  please help me if you can.  thank you so much

Answer
Sue,

Thanks for your question.  The "New Empire" was a model of shotgun made by Crescent Arms.  Crescent primarily made a whole series of utilitarian shotguns including store brands and house brands for a number of mail order companies.  In general, shotguns made by Crescent are not especially valuable or collectable.  The New Empire version seems to be an exception to this rule, to a certain extent.  There does seem to be some collector interest in this particular shotgun, depending on the condition and what caliber it is.

You didn't mention what caliber yours was in your email, but .410 gauge and .20 gauge seem to have the most value.  The condition of the shotgun is also a factor.  No disrespect intended, but 'good' condition to you might be somewhat less than 'good' in the eyes of a collector.

Since I don't have access to the gun or detailed pictures of it, I can only give you a very broad range.  Overall, you are probably looking at something between $200 and $400 as a value of the gun, depending on exactly what it is...I realize that is a pretty broad spread, but it is the best I can do with the info you have provided.

This is a significant premium over the average Crescent shotgun which is probably worth $100 or less....

Hope this helps you out...

Best regards,

Doug Little