My sister has a friend who is the executor of her father's estate. The estate contains firearms, but I don't know the full extent of the collection. The few I've seen pictures of are LEO engraved with shields\badges. I need to find an honest FFL who won't just low ball her to flip the guns for maximum profit. She's located in Oakland county Michigan. Thanks for any info.

Do your research and you might want to ask the local Police Departments who they use. (I work for FFL) …we get firearms confiscated in cases where the court allows the owner to sell them off to recoup some $$ instead of complete loss.
We dealt with an estate of 700 plus guns from a widower and I can tell you it is a shit-ton of work for the FFL in our area…we typically offer around 50% of value which seems fairly typical.

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The few I've seen pictures of are LEO engraved with shields\badges.

Unless it's sold to a member of that particular unit, most people will consider that a detriment and it will reduce value.

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I need to find an honest FFL who won't just low ball her to flip the guns for maximum profit.

As cgode said, there's a lot of work involved.

The way to maximize value is to sell them individually, but that takes a lot more time.
Perhaps a consignment relationship with a dealer would be another possibility.

^^^Consignment….good point chellim1…..consignment may be an option….the only downfall with that deal is the owner has to wait until a firearm is actually sold before they get any money….we have guns on consignment that have been here at the store for over a year….just not desirable for one reason or another. We have consignment contracts that give the owner 80% of the sale price….the store keeps 20%. This is advantageous to the FFL in that they don’t actually have to put any $$ out…just the man-hours of paperwork and researching values to give fair/competitive pricing. It’s a good option for the seller that doesn’t need money immediately.

When you say engraved do you mean evidence marking engraving typically done with a dremel type tool or are they commemorative editions professionally done?

If the latter, an internet auction house such as Sarah15, Bryant Ridge or Gunnerbuck's Dad might be the best. They typically do all the work of pictures, descriptions, shipping and take 15-20% of sales price.

Engraved as in commemorative models, not evidence numbers. The three handguns I've seen pictured all look NIB. They are a 1981 commemorative model 1858 Remington black powder 44 made for the International Association of Chiefs of Police. A Ruger SAA type 44 Magnum blued with gold inlay. There is a badge on the cylinder that says 'Michigan' across the top. The photo isn't detailed enough to read the inscrition on the barrel. The third is a blued Colt commercial 1911 that has an engraved scroll on the slide that says 'Michigan State Police 1917-1977'.

I think my sister said something about the departed being a retired LEO.

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Originally posted by doublesharp:
When you say engraved do you mean evidence marking engraving typically done with a dremel type tool or are they commemorative editions professionally done?

If the latter, an internet auction house such as Sarah15, Bryant Ridge or Gunnerbuck's Dad might be the best. They typically do all the work of pictures, descriptions, shipping and take 15-20% of sales price.

Sgt.Gold,

I work for an FFL in the area. You've got an email inbound.

Got your E-mail. Thanks.

I a good ways away , however if you need any help or info, my email is in my profile,

I own a business (FFL/SOT) that specializes in estates, and also have a seperate storefront, as well,

What part of Oakland County?
I ask as it might make difference on using a local FFl or expanding the area of choices a bit.

I don't have an exact location. I used the county just to narrow the search a bit.

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Originally posted by gjgalligan:
What part of Oakland County?
I ask as it might make difference on using a local FFl or expanding the area of choices a bit.

Id find out many firearms are in the collection and what type of firearms be it semi auto handguns/rifles, revolvers or bolt action hunting rifles. Once you determine the number and type of guns you'll have a better idea of what course of action to take.

1. Sell them yourself on Gunbroker or other online forum

2. Some shops will buy entire collections so you get rid of everything at once but net less money

3. Put guns on consignment, ore money than sling them to a shop but less money than selling them yourself

4. Auction house that specializes in firearms if there's a number of high-end firearms in the collection.

I know there are collectors out there with an interest in law enforcement marked guns but the trick is to find them.