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Value on Cape Buffalo shoulder mount?
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A friend of mine has a couple Cape Buffalo shoulder mounts for sale. Any idea what the value would be. One is 42" with ok taxidermy work. Looks real good from 5 feet. The other one needs to be measured but he thinks about the same size. The quality of the taxidermy is better on this one. Would $1200 to $ 1500 each be a fair number?
 
Posts: 835 | Location: Plover, Wi | Registered: 04 October 2009Reply With Quote
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the best way to determine value is to check with Cabela's and see what they offer you. They are always looking for more mounts for their stores.

Figure their offer plus 50% for starters, but you are not far off now.
 
Posts: 23062 | Location: SW Idaho | Registered: 19 December 2005Reply With Quote
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So much will depend on the size of the bull as to how it would score. Makes a tremendous difference..It costs at least $12,000 to shoot one these days but most average bulls 38"s would fetch $2000 if you can find a buyer!!that's the hard part.


Ray Atkinson
Atkinson Hunting Adventures
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Filer, Idaho, 83328
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Posts: 42309 | Location: Twin Falls, Idaho | Registered: 04 June 2000Reply With Quote
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contact Lolli Brothers Auctions. They consign 100s if not 1,000's of mounts a year.


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Posts: 448 | Location: Palmer, AK | Registered: 17 August 2005Reply With Quote
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I think it also matters where the mounts are. A gent is South Africa has some mounts for sale at fair prices but shipping to the US puts them out of reasonable reach.
Cal


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Posts: 7281 | Location: Willow, Alaska | Registered: 29 June 2009Reply With Quote
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These would be shipping out of central Wisc.
 
Posts: 835 | Location: Plover, Wi | Registered: 04 October 2009Reply With Quote
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I've considered this question when deciding how much to spend on taxidermy as I get older. What I've concluded, is it's not worth much of anything except to me. Ask yourself, what would you pay for someone else's 42" buffalo?

Sorry to be a party pooper, but I've thought about this very same question.
 
Posts: 10599 | Location: Houston, Texas | Registered: 26 December 2005Reply With Quote
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quote:
Originally posted by lavaca:
I've considered this question when deciding how much to spend on taxidermy as I get older. What I've concluded, is it's not worth much of anything except to me. Ask yourself, what would you pay for someone else's 42" buffalo?

Sorry to be a party pooper, but I've thought about this very same question.


+1


Jason

"You're not hard-core, unless you live hard-core."
_______________________

Hunting in Africa is an adventure. The number of variables involved preclude the possibility of a perfect hunt. Some problems will arise. How you decide to handle them will determine how much you enjoy your hunt.

Just tell yourself, "it's all part of the adventure." Remember, if Robert Ruark had gotten upset every time problems with Harry
Selby's flat bed truck delayed the safari, Horn of the Hunter would have read like an indictment of Selby. But Ruark rolled with the punches, poured some gin, and enjoyed the adventure.

-Jason Brown
 
Posts: 6842 | Location: Nome, Alaska(formerly SW Wyoming) | Registered: 22 December 2003Reply With Quote
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A local machine shop has between fifteen and twenty head and shoulder mounts of African game, including a 44+/-" Cape Buffalo. They belonged to a former business partner who passed away. He bought them from his widow. Hunts, but just in the Idaho area. No real desire to hunt Africa, but likes the look in his office areas.
 
Posts: 23062 | Location: SW Idaho | Registered: 19 December 2005Reply With Quote
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I tried to sell an elk head to Cabelas, a few years back. Belonged to the widow of a friend. Nice taxidermy and about 360".
They had no interest in looking at it.


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Posts: 2656 | Location: Minnesota | Registered: 08 December 2006Reply With Quote
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The problem with selling any taxidermy is the value is all sentimental. The only purpose it has after the sentiment is gone is decoration. Anyone buying taxidermy for decoration doesn't care about quality, horn size etc. all they are wanting to do is fill a spot on the wall so they are looking for a bargain.


Jerry Huffaker
State, National and World Champion Taxidermist



 
Posts: 2017 | Registered: 27 February 2002Reply With Quote
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Jerry, that is spot on. The only exception I can think of is the buffalo I saw in the small apartment of an old gentleman who owned a machine shop in Arusha. The mount was old, as he was, the taxidermy was bad, but this bull was massive and pushing 50". One from the old days.
 
Posts: 10599 | Location: Houston, Texas | Registered: 26 December 2005Reply With Quote
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tu2 What Jerry said. Unless you stumble into a high end interior decorator who has a wealthy client(s), getting any kind of fair price on mounts is rare. I once worked with a man who supplied restaurants, bars and outdoor lodges with every kind of mount known to man. He had a warehouse full of some of the best trophies known to any record book, many taken long before bans were in place. He advised me of his annual buying tour around the country, buying many great trophy heads and life size mounts for pennies on the dollar. "What is one mans treasure is another mans trash." Sadly, much of our cherish taxidermy will end up in yard sales after we're gone.


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Took the wife the Eastern Cape for her first hunt:
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Hunting in the Stormberg, Winterberg and Hankey Mountains of the Eastern Cape 2018
http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/4801073142
Hunting the Eastern Cape, RSA May 22nd - June 15th 2007
http://forums.accuratereloadin...=810104007#810104007
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http://forums.accuratereloadin...=212108409#212108409
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http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6341092311
Recent hunt in the Eastern Cape, August 2010: Pics added
http://forums.accuratereloadin...261039941#9261039941
10 days in the Stormberg Mountains
http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/7781081322
Back in the Stormberg Mountains with friends: May-June 2017
http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6001078232

"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading" - Thomas Jefferson

Every morning the Zebra wakes up knowing it must outrun the fastest Lion if it wants to stay alive. Every morning the Lion wakes up knowing it must outrun the slowest Zebra or it will starve. It makes no difference if you are a Zebra or a Lion; when the Sun comes up in Africa, you must wake up running......

"If you're being chased by a Lion, you don't have to be faster than the Lion, you just have to be faster than the person next to you."
 
Posts: 6825 | Location: Tennessee | Registered: 18 December 2006Reply With Quote
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LDK,

As I have trophies delivered to home and office this week, and plan my next safari in six weeks, I contemplate your words.
 
Posts: 10599 | Location: Houston, Texas | Registered: 26 December 2005Reply With Quote
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When you receive your mounts from the taxidermist consider that on the back of your shoulder mounts is a blank canvas of space where you can write the date, location and a few words about the hunt. Maybe attach a photo, try to put into words the way the hunt made you feel, that kind of stuff.

Don't tell anyone you are doing it, just do it.
Years down the road when kids/grandkids are selling everything it may create a moment of pause. It may not keep them from selling it and I guess it really does not matter if they sell it or not. I bet it will make them think of you and perhaps some of the sentimental attachment to the thing can be handed down. Maybe, just maybe that old head will end up in a prized place on your great grandsons wall instead of wearing a Santa hat in a bar in Walla Walla Washington.


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Posts: 1378 | Location: Virginia, USA | Registered: 05 March 2005Reply With Quote
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Grafton, what a great idea. I'm going to do just that for every mount. Thanks. It might be just a note in a bottle, but who knows.
 
Posts: 10599 | Location: Houston, Texas | Registered: 26 December 2005Reply With Quote
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Grafton, I have done just that.
I put location, year, caliber of rifle, or in my case most of the time, archery equipment.
I suspect that those notes will mean something to someone some day.


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Posts: 2656 | Location: Minnesota | Registered: 08 December 2006Reply With Quote
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Grafton:

That's most of why I asked for a long dead uncles record muley buck he shot back in 1945. First season after WWII. Four brothers in law and one's brother went hunting together, Dad was one of them. The mount was hanging next to a window in his garage for years because his wife wouldn't let him have it in the house. Left side had mostly rotted off, ear gone, eye white, looked like it belonged in the trash.

I got it when the grandkids were cleaning the place out. A few years later I had it remounted. Beautiful work. Wish I could share a picture of it. It meant a lot to Dad to have it among his heads til he died. Now it's on my wall. Grandkids have been invited several times to come see it how it is now. No takers. Everyone that see's it is impressed at the size of the rack and workmanship.

George


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Posts: 6083 | Location: Pueblo, CO | Registered: 31 January 2006Reply With Quote
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I've tried to remember doing as Grafton said, but I forget at times. Heck, I've only got a dog now...

I will try to do it now in case I don't run all the ladies off, or visa versa.


I meant to be DSC Member...bad typing skills.

Marcus Cady

DRSS
 
Posts: 3464 | Location: Dallas | Registered: 19 March 2008Reply With Quote
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quote:
Originally posted by chuckmaxman:
A friend of mine has a couple Cape Buffalo shoulder mounts for sale. Any idea what the value would be. One is 42" with ok taxidermy work. Looks real good from 5 feet. The other one needs to be measured but he thinks about the same size. The quality of the taxidermy is better on this one. Would $1200 to $ 1500 each be a fair number?


I did a recent study of this as I will have a large number of heads out there when I die. I called 3 auction outfits, Cabelas and Bass Pro. Guess what, unless they are extraordinary in size and presentation, you will get 10 cents at best on the dollar. The auction companies will want pictures and possibly you to transport them to an auction site. I was told to have low expectations.

You will hear stories of someone getting a high price but that is rare, very rare. Decorators are looking at rock bottom prices for their projects. Restaurants, retail stores and sporting goods stores won't pay 10 cents on the dollar.

So, what do you do? Enjoy them now knowing they will end up in the trash or an estate auction.
 
Posts: 10503 | Location: Texas... time to secede!! | Registered: 12 February 2004Reply With Quote
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It's been a while, but I recall reading an article In Arch. Digest about a house in Jackson Hole, Wy.

Interviewing the owner, the interviewer remarked on an elk mount on the wall, asking the owner if he hunted?

The owner said, "No, I just like the look of the mount. Many of the yard or estate sales around here have animal mounts in them. As soon as the hunter dies, most of them are sold for next to nothing to get rid of them."

Words to the wise about the value of taxidermy.


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Posts: 17099 | Location: Texas USA | Registered: 07 May 2001Reply With Quote
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I have a really good nephew, that lived at our house almost as much as he did at home growing up. His dad traveled about nine months a year for AT&T.

He has told me, dozens of times, that he would treasure my African mounts in his home when I get ready to let go of them. His oldest son is now 3 months old. We plan to raise him the same way.

I agree, your mounts have tremendous value to you, and to close family members who know their stories. It also helps if you took them hunting and fishing starting when they were about three.
 
Posts: 23062 | Location: SW Idaho | Registered: 19 December 2005Reply With Quote
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I spoke to a guide in Alaska whose father specializes is buying and selling used taxidermy.

He told me his father bought all mounts at a cabelas store that was getting new mounts for around $50 (i think it was $52 exact) per mount. He has to go pick them up at the store. This includes full body mounts.

I was shocked. Truck loads of taxidermy for less than what my lion would cost.

Why after the lion i am done with taxidermy.

I went to Restoration Hardware and bought artificial moose antlers.

Mike
 
Posts: 13145 | Location: Cocoa Beach, Florida | Registered: 22 July 2010Reply With Quote
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I bought a 350+ Elk mount last year for a friends cabin. Great work. I think we paid about $350 for it.
 
Posts: 241 | Location: Rochester, Michigan | Registered: 18 May 2007Reply With Quote
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I like Grafton's idea, it's an excellent suggestion. Sadly though, what was one hunters treasure is trash to the average person. Expect very little return on the dollar spent.


Gray Ghost Hunting Safaris
http://grayghostsafaris.com Phone: 615-860-4333
Email: hunts@grayghostsafaris.com
NRA Benefactor
DSC Professional Member
SCI Member
RMEF Life Member
NWTF Guardian Life Sponsor
NAHC Life Member
Rowland Ward - SCI Scorer
Took the wife the Eastern Cape for her first hunt:
http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6881000262
Hunting in the Stormberg, Winterberg and Hankey Mountains of the Eastern Cape 2018
http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/4801073142
Hunting the Eastern Cape, RSA May 22nd - June 15th 2007
http://forums.accuratereloadin...=810104007#810104007
16 Days in Zimbabwe: Leopard, plains game, fowl and more:
http://forums.accuratereloadin...=212108409#212108409
Natal: Rhino, Croc, Nyala, Bushbuck and more
http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6341092311
Recent hunt in the Eastern Cape, August 2010: Pics added
http://forums.accuratereloadin...261039941#9261039941
10 days in the Stormberg Mountains
http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/7781081322
Back in the Stormberg Mountains with friends: May-June 2017
http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6001078232

"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading" - Thomas Jefferson

Every morning the Zebra wakes up knowing it must outrun the fastest Lion if it wants to stay alive. Every morning the Lion wakes up knowing it must outrun the slowest Zebra or it will starve. It makes no difference if you are a Zebra or a Lion; when the Sun comes up in Africa, you must wake up running......

"If you're being chased by a Lion, you don't have to be faster than the Lion, you just have to be faster than the person next to you."
 
Posts: 6825 | Location: Tennessee | Registered: 18 December 2006Reply With Quote
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I hate the idea of selling my mounts for sentimental reasons obviously, I do like Graftons idea, moment of pause could mean the world to the family. I have ask my family to take what they want and the rest to send to SCI for their sensory project in the hopes the they will still be enjoyed after I am gone.


Thanks!

Brian Clark

Blue Skies Hunting Adventures
www.blueskieshunting.com
Email at: info@blueskieshunting.com

African Cape Trophy Safaris
www.africancapesafaris.com
Email at: brian@africancapesafaris.com

1-402-689-2024
 
Posts: 1013 | Location: Nebraska | Registered: 30 August 2010Reply With Quote
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I am going to write a small summary and put it in a small envelope behind each of my mounts. But it won't make much of a difference. I'm not quite down to only a dog as DCS is, but not much better. My parents are aging, I have no siblings, my wife has no siblings, my children show no interest in hunting and don't seem likely to procreate.
 
Posts: 10599 | Location: Houston, Texas | Registered: 26 December 2005Reply With Quote
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quote:
Originally posted by lavaca:
I am going to write a small summary and put it in a small envelope behind each of my mounts. But it won't make much of a difference. I'm not quite down to only a dog as DCS is, but not much better. My parents are aging, I have no siblings, my wife has no siblings, my children show no interest in hunting and don't seem likely to procreate.


Feel free to leave them to me, I'll take good care of them and will enjoy your notes.


Thanks!

Brian Clark

Blue Skies Hunting Adventures
www.blueskieshunting.com
Email at: info@blueskieshunting.com

African Cape Trophy Safaris
www.africancapesafaris.com
Email at: brian@africancapesafaris.com

1-402-689-2024
 
Posts: 1013 | Location: Nebraska | Registered: 30 August 2010Reply With Quote
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I have one GREAT! nephew that spent almost as much time here with Lorene and I as he did at my brother's house growing up. A workaholic, with not much time for kids.

He hunted with me, he fished with me, he shot archery in a target league with me several years.

He told me one afternoon a couple years back that he and his wife wanted all of my African trophy mounts for their house when I was ready to let them go.

I am glad he told my wife and I that.

You just have to raise them right, to appreciate family...

Rich
 
Posts: 23062 | Location: SW Idaho | Registered: 19 December 2005Reply With Quote
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Rich,

I'm glad you have someone to leave them to. I'm still looking.
 
Posts: 10599 | Location: Houston, Texas | Registered: 26 December 2005Reply With Quote
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