Broomhandle Pistol 1896-1936

[DWalt]

I have a 1985 first edition first printing of the Wayne R. Erickson and Charles E. Pate book "The Broomhandle Pistol, 1896-1936"  Autographed by Pate on frontispiece. Hard cover, like new condition, no damage.  I've had it packed away for over 10 years with a number of other gun books, and just ran across it.  I tried to locate one on eBay to see what it's value might be to determine if it is worthwhile to list it for sale there, but couldn't find anything.  I am not a Mauser broomhandle collector, but thought someone here would know more about it.  Any comments?

[1914mauser]

Yes, the book has been quite pricey but of late I have seen them sell in the $300-500 range.

Regards,

[DWalt]

I looked on Amazon and also AbeBooks.  Seems $500 and up is typical on those two sites, but some  prices posted on Amazon are truly ridiculous (>$5000).  Perhaps those stratospheric  prices are for the early cased limited editions.  Mine is one of the 2000 printed, but it does have a hand-written inscription by Pate.  I think I'll hang onto mine for a little while as I don't need the cash.  In that same storage box with "Broomhandle" were three other of my older gun books also with quite high current prices listed.  Seems that those books have meen better investments than some of my guns.

[1914mauser]

Yes, typical listings are at $500+ but they are not being bought at those prices. Yes, I have seen books listed at ridiculous prices, I think the sellers are fishing for fools who have more money than since. $300-500 is what I have actually seen the book sell for in the past year. Some signed some not. I believe the entire run was limited to 2000 copies. There are not a whole lot of C96 collectors out there or surviving examples of C96s. So the demand for more copies or a second printing does not exist. I think if you could of bought the pistols instead of the book it would of been a better investment.

Regards,