mawkie
C&R Whisperer
You see these pop up on a regular basis so I thought I'd post for the new collectors so they know what to look for. John Jovino purchased a large number of SMLEs and spares from the Australian gov't some years ago (my hazy memory wants to say late 80s or early 90s). What he had in the spares lots were some NOS No2 MK4 barreled receivers and bolts along with furniture and hardware. JJ's staff assembled a number of "new" No2s from these parts and then assigned them new SNs that used a "T" prefix.
So when looking for one of these the two things that instantly jump at me are the T prefix (genuine Australian No2s used A-F suffix in their SNs) and the brand new furniture. Here's a GB auction with a JJ No2 MK4 to illustrate. The seller has a BIN of $800 which is a good $250 or more too high as I would value it in the $450-550 range. Its value is purely as a shooter as it would have little to no value to a collector at this time. Perhaps in the future it would gain interest and value (I don't forget that Sedgley built rifles were pure poison to collectors when I was young, my how time has turned that around!).
So when looking for one of these the two things that instantly jump at me are the T prefix (genuine Australian No2s used A-F suffix in their SNs) and the brand new furniture. Here's a GB auction with a JJ No2 MK4 to illustrate. The seller has a BIN of $800 which is a good $250 or more too high as I would value it in the $450-550 range. Its value is purely as a shooter as it would have little to no value to a collector at this time. Perhaps in the future it would gain interest and value (I don't forget that Sedgley built rifles were pure poison to collectors when I was young, my how time has turned that around!).
