INTRICATE AND exquisite engraving turns shotguns into objets d’art. A pair of Keith Thomas-engraved Boss & Co. shotguns sold by Holt’s for $246,238 in 2004. (Photograph courtesy of Holt’s Auctioneers.)

This may change as demand increases for collector shotguns—particularly the elaborately engraved models. According to Joe Hall, proprietor of Matched Pairs, a Web-based dealer in England that focuses on reuniting collectible shotgun pairs and sets, the market has picked up considerably of late. "Scarcity, due to collectors being reluctant to sell and the general absence of guns that have not been refurbished, has caused prices to rise by as much as 15 to 20 percent in the last year or so," notes Hall, who does about one-third of his business with Americans.

Yet, truth be told, the $100,000 shotgun is a relative rarity, and even "high-art" gun sales in the range of $200,000 to $400,000 are hardly indicative of the overall market. "Up at that level the [prices paid] defy conventional market wisdom," says Paul Carella, director of arms and armor at Bonhams & Butterfields. Merely magnificent collectible shotguns from the best English, Italian, French and American makers regularly sell for $50,000 or less. Gun-trade historian and pricing analyst Don Amos has tracked trends in best-quality classic English shotguns made before 1960 and concludes that the finest examples, in the best condition, from the best makers, have a marketplace value of approximately $40,000.

VALUE JUDGMENT: The high-art craftsmanship of ornately engraved handmade shotguns is spurring an emerging collector market for firearms often considered utilitarian and pedestrian. For the past 20 years, a cadre of affluent collectors has paid artisans to create bespoke shotguns that now command six figures at auction. Options for acquiring one of these guns are limited—demand is high and supply extremely low. Yet those who do find one will own something of great beauty and enormous investment potential.

Furthermore, the price differential between the very best collectible shotguns in mint condition and those just a step lower in quality lags far behind that of other firearm categories. However, that spells an opportunity to some, not a liability. "It is pointless to enter the Colt or Winchester markets now," Amos says. "With more and more people with more and more money looking for places where collecting niches are left, shotguns are still a developing market."

The factors that combine to produce top collectible shotguns are straightforward: maker, original quality and current condition are base values. Double-barrel guns command higher prices than singles. "Over-and-unders" in smaller bores and unrestored British double guns in pristine condition from the years between the First and Second World Wars tend to command higher prices among vintage shotguns.

A small number of elaborately engraved shotguns in Holland & Holland’s Products of Excellence series dominate the vintage market. Many of these magnificently embellished guns were built by the venerable London gunmaker as demonstration projects from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s and are widely credited with igniting the high-art gun market. Some came to auction at Bonhams & Butterfields in the 1990s and even now dominate the list of record prices paid for shotguns.

The high-art movement began in the 1960s when, according to Shooting Sportsman magazine senior editor and shotgun expert Vic Venters, Italian gunmaker Mario Abbiatico began using the intricate bulino method, "which enabled engravers to almost paint in steel." This led in time to the creation of a small group of celebrated engravers that today includes masters such as Ken Hunt, Phil Cogan, Keith Thomas, Robert Swartley and Alan and Paul Brown in Britain; Angelo Galeazzi, Firmo Fracassi, Gianfranco Pedersoli, Giancarlo Pedretti and others in Italy; Philippe Grifnee in Belgium; and Winston Churchill in Vermont.