Professional Appraiser License

[Crash]

Anybody know how I could become a professional, licensed firearm appraiser? I've been asked by many friends to appraise their guns because they know that I've been buying and selling guns for a long, long time. However, that in no way makes me a professional. I would like to have formal training and a license.

Suggestions? Recommendations?

Crash

[LucasMcCain]

The answer seems to be a bit complicated. As far as I can tell, there is no required certification to be a firearms appraiser. You are either generally accepted as being a knowledgeable expert on firearms (typically a specific set of firearms) or you aren't. Since you've been dealing in guns for a long time, you are already more knowledgeable than most on the types of guns that you deal in. This is the most interesting article I found in some casual googling.

http://weaponsman.com/?p=3731

The only other thing I found was some site claiming to offer a firearms appraiser certification course, but it was a pretty obvious scam. I doubt it would be worth the money they want to charge you just for the information. The "certification" would be worthless, I would imagine. My advice would be to try to find a reputable firearms appraiser (or three) and offer to pay him for his time to pick his brain. You might even be able to work out some type of apprenticeship with one. This has been my approach in the past when looking into a new field; talk to someone already doing the job you want to do. Hope this helps.