My neighbor approached me about a set of Colt 1911A1 his father had bought new back in about 1970.
They're the nickel plated WWII European Theater and Pacific Theater set, matching serial number, in their original presentation boxes and appear unfired and not at all handled on my short examination. (I did not ask about the book and the shipping boxes).
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He states he has no desire to retain them and would like to know what they're worth
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As I search the web I find a wide range of prices for these guns as a set ($750 to $2,800)... reasoning offered varies but from garish old 1911... there were 11,500 sets made, they're everywhere... "The folks interested in these are gone or near gone."
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SO, I'm seeking some thoughts on these... value range so that I may be fair in the value I return to him.
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Thanks

I do know that commemoratives sometimes do not bring as much as regular stock. I am not a big handgun collector and just have shooters. I have sold many 1911's in the past and never kept any of them. This is why I have some interest in these 1911's. I would like to buy them. I will talk to a friend of mine and see what he thinks that they are worth and get back to you. Thank you.

I talked to my friend and he asked if they were the 70's series. That would mean that they would have 70 prefix before the serial no. He thought that because there were so many sets made the value would not be as great. He said that around $1200.00 would be about right.

1200.00 for two working colt 1911's sounds like a decent deal.

Big Horns:

They're 1911A1s... the set was offered in early 1970 (I see newspaper articles about these sets as early as 26 Mar 1970) as the 25th Anniversary of the end of WWII. They have a lanyard loop and a solid barrel bushing... pre-Series 70 guns... the serial numbers are special to the sets, nnnnETO and nnnnPTO where nnnn is numerals matching for each pair.

They're apparently unfired and handled very little as I can find only a few tiny marks on the barrel at the bushing and none on the magazine or hammer, no rust or corrosion anywhere.

I'm going to keep them myself, I offered $3,000 for the pair for essentially 1970 manufactured NIB Colt 1911A1. I knew his father pretty well and I figure both my neighbor and I could be pleased with the deal.

Well, if both parties are happy, that's called "good business".