1868 dated breechblock

[Fred G.]

What's the dollar value for an 1868 model Springfield with an 1868 date on the breechblock? Very good condition and complete. Just looking for a ball park figure.

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[musketshooter]

$50.00

[Fred G.]

Sold!

[jmoore]

Hold it a little closer to the keyboard, I can't quite see it from here!

[Fred G.]

Actually, I'm just trying to figure out how much I should offer my cousin for it when my aunt passes on. He knows nothing about guns and doesn't even have an interest in them, least of all trapdoors. The rifle is definitely an 1868 dated Mod 1868. Can't remember what the serial number is, but I definitely remember the breechblock. It belonged to my grandfather and he's adopted so I want it. I'm thinking I should invest in another 1868 or a 45/70 at a gunshow and trade him with some cash thrown in. It's never been sanded or cleaned. Plumb patina all over. Still has the original rod. 1863 lockplate. So, I'm just wondering how far into it I should go. I won't be selling it.

[gunluvver]

Take your cuzz out for some beers and find out what he would trade for the 1868. Just because he's adopted doesn't mean he lacks a connection to gramps. Do you have something gramps-related that he would trade for? It isn't always about the money.

[Fred G.]

He only saw grampa twice and that was when he was seven. his mother only has the rifle now because she took it out of her fathers house. There's nothing in the way of grandpa's posessions that I have to trade ecxept his Diary that he kept during the Great War. His mother took his sea chest, and oil painting of General Ulysses S. Grant in uniform that a Confederate veteran put a bullet hole through, and a revolver that gramps's father took away from a kid who was using it to shoot up the Greenleaf, Kansas railroad depot, named Dalton. He has no emotional tie to the old man at all. It's been 25 years since Grandpa's been gone. All I have besides the diary is money. I'll give him that for the rifle. the sea chest and the revolver. However, all emotion aside, back to my original question, how much is an 1868 worth with an 1868 breechblock? I want to be fair to a degree, but would $1,500.00 be too much for such a rifle or are the single, double or low triple digit serial numbered rifles worth enough that I could put out $2,000 and expect to recover my money plus profit if I DID sell it? Gramps only got it from an old farmer's widow for 20 dollars and had no bond with it himself. I think that I remember it had a two digit number like 12 or something.

[jamie5070]

Take a peek at gunbrocker to see what people are paying.
john

[Fred G.]

Unfortunately John, that'll only tell me what people are paying for the run of the mill 1868's. What I need to know is what an 1868 with an 1868 breechblock goes for. They only made around 200 or so with that stamp on them before they started stamping them with the next fiscal year of production which was 1869. That is what makes the 1868 marked rifle of that model a rare thing to find, let alone own.

[13Echo]

An 1868 in excellent condition with an 1868 block, original stock with all the cartouches, and the correct cleaning rod should go for $1500 to $2,000. Condition is everything. A so-so specimen would be considerably less and a re-finished rifle a few hundred dollars. The finish should be arsenal bright with a blackened receiver and block. The rod should be the single shoulder style and the stock should have up to 4 cartouches on the left side flat and a proof behind the end of the trigger guard.

Jerry Liles