Blue Books

Blue Book of Gun Values

Written by S P Fjestad, and published annually since 1979. The current edition (the 25th Anniversary Edition, 2004) is 1,864 pages of detailed information on a huge range of guns, their history and current values.

It relates value to a range of condition percentages, based on the "Blue Book Photo Percentage Grading System (TM)". This system expands considerably on the NRA classifications described elsewhere on this site, resulting up to 12 different grades and corresponding values (from 10% to 100% condition). For comparison purposes, in our table below, we have used just two of these - 30% (approx NRA "fair"; and 80% (approx. NRA "fine"). To supplement the system they also provide a number of very clear images of actual guns to compare each against for each grade.

Click here to view the full details of the "Blue Book Photo Percentage Grading System (TM)" at their own site. We highly recommend you study the images provided, to gain a good insight into the best interpretation of NRA grads such as "Fine" or "Fair" - but don't forget to come back here!

Blue Book of Gun Values - 25th Anniversary Edition

Comparison of Serial Number Information
(Largely similar to R L Wilson's data)
Year	Blue Book			Jordan & Watts
	Baby Dragoon	Pocket '49	London	Baby Dragoon	Pocket '49	London
	From	From	From	From	From	From
1847				1
1848				250
1849	1			5000
1850	12000	12000		10000 - 16000	12000
1851		16000			16000
1852		25000			25000
1853		55000	1		55000	1
1854		85000	1000		85000	1000
1855		100000	5000		100000	5000
1856		110000	9000 - 11000		110000	10000 - 10984
1857		130000			130000
1858		140000			140000
1859		150000			160000
1860		160000			185000
1861		184000			205000
1862		197000			210000
1863		223000			223000
1864		250000			250000
1865		270000			270000
1866		280000			280000
1867		290000			290000
1868		300000			300000
1869		310000			310000
1870		320000			320000
1871		325000			325000
1872		330000			33000
1873		331000 - 340000			331000 - 332993

Gun Value Comparisons
Blue Book				This Site
Type	Description	Prices		Historic Values Page(2)		"Shumate" Appraisal Grid
Type	Description	30%(1)	80%(1)	Fair	Fine	Fair	Fine
1848 Baby Dragoons
Type I	Rammerless Baby Dragoon with Indian Fight cylinder scene, left-hand address, ser# 1-150	$5,250	$10,250	$3,643	$9,533	N/A	N/A
Type II	As above, with right-hand address, ser# 11600 +	$3,000	$7,375
Type III	As above, with Stage Coach cylinder scene, oval cylinder slots, ser# 10400 - 12000	$2,800	$7,075
Type IV	As above, with rectangular cylinder stop slots , ser# 11000 - 12500	$3,250	$7,250
Type V	Baby Dragoon with Rammer , ser# 11600 - 15500	$2,850	$7,075	$2,450	$8,500
1849 Pocket Model
First Type	Pocket '49, brass trigger guard	$600	$2,125	$912	$2,726	$600	$1,300
Second Type	Pocket '49, "steel" trigger guard	$700	$2,550	$912	$2,726	$600	$1,300
Wells Fargo	3" barrel, no loading lever (rammer), small round trigger guard	$1,525	$5,565	$3,000	$3,033	N/A	N/A
1849 London Pocket Model
Early Type	London made Pocket 49s - ser# below 1500, small trigger guard, brass grip straps	$1,150	$3,800	$685	$2,070	$950	$1,650
Late Type	London made Pocket 49s - later serial numbers, oval trigger guard, "steel" grip straps	$825	$2,350	$685	$2,070	$950	$1,650
Notes:
1	"30%" = approximately NRA 2 ("Fair"); "80%" = approximately NRA 5 ("Fine")
2	It is important to remember that these values come from a relatively small sample size - although they are recent, actual prices

Blue Book values provided courtesy of S. P. Fjestad, Author & Publisher, Blue Book Publications Inc.