The prices are stout, but the only other Type A in .250 Savage I have ever seen was in a GB or GA listing in about 2005. That gun was also mint and was priced at $8.5K. It may have been the same gun. I figure the vast majority of .250 Savages came to the US at a time when they cost 3 or 4 times the price of a Winchester 54 or 70 (both of which are also scarce in this caliber). For this one to be in the shape it is, it must have spent its life in the U.S.

Huvius, I've also made many collecting mistakes - i have some pristine, desirable pieces; some that would be desirable if they were pristine, some that are pristine but modified, etc. and not a double rifle in the bunch. I've also bought too many auction guns.

I suppose the best approach is to buy the really desirable classic stuff as and when it appears, from people like Hallowell, Caswell, and Schwandt or when you're lucky enough to stumble across it. The really good stuff appears so rarely that a collector can afford it if he buys nothing else. I've bought too much something else:)