I have made offers on two R9s in excess of $5k, neither offer was accepted. After a lot of searching and back and forth with one owner of an Elite Premium I offered $6k final offer. He said he wouldn't sell for anything less than $10k. When I found another EP I paid MUCH less so it worked out well for me in the long run. The other offer I made was on my "Grail" gun before I purchased Karl's very early SN "R9" was $10k for SN 101 no R the earliest production gun outside of those at the factory. He refused the offer and in the end it worked out - I ended up buying Karl's gun and am very happy with that. I would not make either offer today and am not sure if there is an R9 that I would pay more than $5k for at this point.