price check for a "salt cod" gun

I have two ruger auto's with the salt cod box, gun's, box's are in nice shape 95% each as a whole. railway stikers is nice too.


Im thinking of selling one to move into another "rare" gun. i have own theses two each for over 8-9 years now.

whats the fair market price for a nice one?
thanks for you input.
Scott

For those R.F. Members whom don't know.......



This one "lives in Utah". Value? Oh, my, over $2K, maybe pushing 3.....

Ask Donnie!

flatgate

Mr. Deerstalker...what are the sn's on your two?
Chet15

chet15 said:

Mr. Deerstalker...what are the sn's on your two?
Chet15

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Yeah; meb'be they're them Stainless ones! Got a pic? Stainless or Full Rust?

Stainless ones don't have RAILWAY stickers........RR

There are a few salt cod boxes out there that have been made after the fact. Of course Ruger's stainless signature had a like-sized pine box with a black Ruger eagle logo on the lid. But those didn't have railway express stickers on the bottom.
Then I also know a guy in Iowa who made a few salt cod boxes, not to fake, but to make something "neat" for those who wished to have one for their RE shipped gun. These are marked with stamped letters of the maker, and also have reproduction RE stickers on the bottom that are all printed the same.
Chet15

chet15 said:

There are a few salt cod boxes out there that have been made after the fact. Of course Ruger's stainless signature had a like-sized pine box with a black Ruger eagle logo on the lid. But those didn't have railway express stickers on the end.
Then I also know a guy in Iowa who made a few salt cod boxes, not to fake, but to make something "neat" for those who wished to have one for their RE shipped gun. These are marked with stamped letters of the maker, and also have reproduction RE stickers on the bottom that are all printed the same.
Chet15

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Make sure that the sticker on your salt cod box has a white "Collect", "Railway Express Agency" waybill glued on it. If it has "REA Express" It was not shipped in 1949 or 1950, as the Railway Express Agency didn't change their name to REA Express until 1961 or 1962. Also this collect waybill will have a date printed on it just like the paperwork that Ruger sends out with their firearms. I think it's on the top right of the waybill, and make sure that it's not newer then 1949 or 1950. If it is earlier then 1949 then that ok. Also make sure that the waybill has Southport, Conn. on it. Sometimes you can find these waybills for sale on E-bay and if some crook buys one and fakes a salt cod box then it would be next to impossible to find one from Southport Conn. with a date of 1950 or earler. So the fake one would be from some other place then Southport, and would probably be one with a date after 1950. Hope this helps someone not to be taken advantage of.

"Stainless ones don't have RAILWAY stickers"

Very true, but there's no guarantee that THIS box and THIS gun are from the same time period. Street's commentary and a serial number are necessary for proper authentication.

This is not meant to cast doubt on the package at hand, just to clarify the situation. When you have somethig this unique and desirable, it's good to have all the info.

Well I believe FG's picture may be of one that is in question.....

I think AK and UT have traded a few things......

Well I had the Hiddlesons make me a batch of "COD" boxes.....I supplied the correct wood in the appropriate thickness.....yet it is relatively easy to spot a new made box.....the old growth pine is much denser than the new growth pine.....making the original boxes noticeably heavier than the newly created ones.....still nice to have a home for a few loose guns.......RR.

The one in flatgates picture is the one in Alaska & the "Salt Cod Box" is #'d to the gun with all the correct items inside.

while we're on the subject, and I dont mean to hijack, how many salt cod guns were made?

The total number shipped would be speculative, but in John Dougan's latest book it is said that Ruger took delivery of 1,046 salt cod boxes for single guns and another 202 salt cod boxes designed for a two-gun shipment. Although John says on page 67 that a total of 888 pistols were shipped in salt cod boxes "up to serial number 10,000", this statement is not entirely true as the records will state how the gun was shipped (if by Railway Express the records are noted as R.E.A.") but the records do not actually say these guns were shipped in a salt cod box, or outer box made of pine....there just simply was no room in the records for that kind of notation and they wouldn't have...REA was the important fact about how the guns were shipped.
At some point in history, it was no longer required to have items packaged in a wooden box to be shipped by Railway Express, and I'm not sure this didn't happen in 1950, as the highest known salt cod boxed gun known to date is 5009. It is doubtful I.M.O. if a large percentage of the 136 pistols listed in John's book higher than 5009 were also shipped in salt cod boxes. Ruger did have some type of distributor system by the time 5009 was shipped, so cardboard outer sleeves would have begun to be used by that time for at least distributor shipments.
Those shipped in a pine box most generally went as one-gun or in rare cases two-gun shipments to individuals who ordered by Ruger's mail reply. This occurred before Ruger's distributor system was completely set up.
According to JD's list, less than 50% of the guns sn'd from 0034 to 0660 were in a salt cod box. This dropped to less than 24% for guns #2000 to 3000, to 4-1/2% (3000 to 4000), went to about 11% (4000 to 5000) and guns s/n'd 5000 to 6000 shipped REA went back down to about 4-1/2% as REA shipped. Then REA shipments are really sparse after that, an average of about 1% for each 1,000-gun span after that up to #9899.
However....pistols sent in for repair, and there were a bunch of them that went back because of broken firing pins, could have been re-shipped in pine salt cod boxes because they went back to the individuals. Known s/n's of these include at least #6715 and possibly also #5604 (neither is listed in JD's book as being originally shipped in a salt cod box).
No two gun salt cod boxes are known today.
Chet15

Wow! I was under the impression that the first so many guns were shipped in salt cod boxes before Ruger switched to a cardboard shipper. Knowing Ruger's history, I should have known it would be more complicated than that though! Thanks for the info!

Not really complicated. Ruger just had to abide by REA's policy.
And when Ruger got fully to their distributor system, they didn't need to ship single guns any longer.
Chet15

So did you sell one or decide to sell one ? David K.

Dave,
did not sell, back in safe and happy about it too
scott