Today's collector usn't necessarily a user - they view 'the Colt' as a holy relic worthy of veneration - to be coated with 'Renaissance Wax', placed on a silken pillow and worshipped.
To even 'think' about actually shooting one - to them - is an abomination.
No lie, GI - that part of the collecting world has changed...
Today, they get factory letters that whose end destination's a hardware store, Kopec letters tracking each partial martial serial number, in hopes it was a 'Custer' gun - or at least, a 'Custer-Era' gun - they parse screwheads and ejector rod heads to get the definitive answer of the date/time/group they changed - yet they don't seem to enjoy the purity of owning and shooting them.
They're more 'property' than 'cherished possession' - where the amassed information adds value - and perhaps it does, since research can be fun, as is 'knowing' - but all that doesn't mean squat to the potential buyer who merely wants a nice revolver to enjoy.
No other sidearm has the history, features in more tales and books, was so trusted to do the job, or was embellished - not the Government Models, Winchesters, Remingtons and so on - the SAA's at the pinaccle.
I was at a convention years ago, wearing a First Generation 'grey' SAA in an RT Frazier crossdraw from the 1890's, when I was asked by a couple of guys: 'Is that a real Colt? Could I hold it? - followed by 'Gee, a real Colt... Thanks' - no one has ever heard that about a Ruger Vaquero.
Vaya,
Scouts Out!