GOOD NEWS FROM JULIA AUCTIONS

Here's a good news "stimulus" story for collectors. Jim Julia of James D. Julia Inc., the Maine auction house, has announced that the commission rate the auction charges sellers will be 0% (that's ZERO) for expensive items--"expensive" ranging from $5,000 for things like toys to $8,000-$10,000 for rare guns. We dont know of any other auction house offering this. Do you?

BUCK ROGERS SPACE GUN

Buck Rogers Space Gun

Q: My husband has a Buck Rogers Disintegrator XZ-38 gun that he received as a child in the late 1930s. Can you tell us how much it's worth?

A: The Buck Rogers 25th Century Disintegrator Pistol, Model XZ-38 was made in 1935 by Daisy Manufacturing Company of Plymouth, Michigan. It was available with either a nickel finish or a copper finish, like yours. The gun was sold in stores and was also given away as a Cream of Wheat premium in 1935 and a Popsicle premium in 1939. Its advertised features include a sub-atomic condenser, electronic compression viewplate, an electronic compression chamber with cooling ribs, and an impulse generator cell. In other words, it has a flint tube at the top that flashes and sparks and makes a loud popping noise.

With its original box, The Buck Rogers Disintegrator sells for anywhere between $540 and $1700, depending on the conditions of the gun and the box. The gun alone sells for $150 to $400.