Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms - 8th Edition

Flayderman's Guide, published roughly every 3 years or so, is one of the most highly recommended sources of gun values. It also contains, in its 672 pages, an enormous wealth of information about virtually every antique american firearm known to exist. The current, 8th edition, was published in 2001.

In recent editions Norm Flayderman has started to use a numerical classification for each gun in the book. That, along with the price (or value) estimates it gives are the main areas of comparison with Jordan & Watts.

Flayderman
Jordan & Watts
Code
Description
Serial Numbers
Description
Serial Numbers
From
To
From
To
5B-037 Rammerless Baby Dragoon with Indian Fight cylinder scene 1 11600 Baby Dragoon w/o rammer, Indian Fight Scene 3 10932
5B-038 As above, with left-hand address, and no capping groove 1 150 As above, with left-hand address, and no cap cutout (no '49s had a capping groove) 3 102
5B-039 As above, with Stage Coach cylinder scene 10400 12100 As above, with Stage Coach cylinder scene 11106 14152
5B-040 As above, with rectangular cylinder stop slots 11000 12450 As above, with rectangular cylinder stop slots 12030 14152
5B-041 Baby Dragoon with Rammer 11600 15500 Baby Dragoon with Rammer 11670 15461
5B-042 Pocket '49, with small brass trigger guard 12000 340000 2-line NY Address, with small brass trigger guard 14454 152606
5B-043 Pocket '49, with large brass trigger guard 12000 340000 2-line NY Address, with large brass trigger guard 154021 174537
1-line NY Address, with large brass trigger guard 187131 332993
5B-044 Pocket '49, with "steel" trigger guard 12000 340000 2-line NY Address, "iron" trigger guard (lge & sml) 112152 157298
5B-045 Hartford addressed Pocket '49 12000 340000 Hartford addressed Pocket '49 174152 206532
5B-045.5 Hartford addressed Pocket '49 - Martially marked (50 of) 203000 204999 Hartford Pocket '49 - Martially marked (50 of) 203435 204599
5B-046 London addressed Pocket '49, but with US address 143000 143999 London addressed Pocket '49, but with US address 143400 143600
5B-047 "Wells Fargo" models 15000 164000 "Wells Fargo" models 14462 164182
5B-048 London made Pocket 49s - early serial numbers 1 999 London made Pocket 49s - early serial numbers 1 999
5B-049 London made Pocket 49s - later serial numbers 1000 11000 London made Pocket 49s - later serial numbers 1000 10984

 

Gun Value Comparisons
Flayderman
This Site
Code
Description
Prices
Historic Values Page(3)
"Shumate" Appraisal Grid
Good(5)
Fine(5)
Good
Fine
Good
Fine
5B-037 Rammerless Baby Dragoon with Indian Fight cylinder scene
$2,000
$9,000
$3,643
$9,533
N/A
N/A
5B-038 As above, with left-hand address, and no capping groove
$2,750
$14,000
5B-039 As above, with Stage Coach cylinder scene
$2,000
$11,500
5B-040 As above, with rectangular cylinder stop slots
$1,500
$9,500
5B-041 Baby Dragoon with Rammer
$2,500
$12,500
$2,450
$8,500
5B-042 Pocket '49, with small brass trigger guard
$475
$1,100
$912
$2,726
$600
$1,300
5B-043 Pocket '49, with large brass trigger guard
$425
$1,000
5B-044 Pocket '49, with "steel" trigger guard
$500
$1,750
5B-045 Hartford addressed Pocket '49
$550
$1,400
$1,149
$3,053
$850
$1,550
5B-045.5 Hartford addressed Pocket '49 - Martially marked(1)
$5,500
$17,500
(4)$5,750
$5,750
N/A
N/A
5B-046 London addressed Pocket '49, but with US address
$525
$2,250
(4)$1,050
$1,050
N/A
N/A
5B-047 "Wells Fargo" models(2)
$900
$5,000
$3,000
$3,033
N/A
N/A
5B-048 London made Pocket 49s - early serial numbers
$475
$1,100
$685
$2,070
$950
$1,650
5B-049 London made Pocket 49s - later serial numbers
$450
$1,000
Notes:
1
 Guns with 6-shot cylinder worth additional premium
2
 Additional premium for: a) short frame variant; b) 4" barrels - (#14-15000); c) large brass trigger guards (approx. 1250 made); d) small "steel" trigger guards (#147,xxx - 75 made)
3
 It is important to remember that these values come from a relatively small sample size - although they are recent, actual prices
4
 Only one example seen in this category to date
5
 "Good" = Between NRA 2 & 4; "Fine" = Between NRA 5 & 6