I don’t know diddly, Bo or otherwise, about K98s, but I’ve been at the collecting bit for a spell. As such I would add the following general opinion:
If you are buying an item to flip it, then current market is absolutely a consideration. That’s when you whip out the barometer, solicit opinions, and get a general sense for what others might pay.
However, if you are buying it to keep, then really the only material opinions on value are the current buyer and seller. Granted, you don’t want to pay 5x what something is worth, but if you’re not looking to sell anytime soon, who knows what the market will be at some future point?
I would also add, members of any collector group likely have multiples of the item under study, so maybe wouldn’t pay as much.
I’ll close by saying, I can’t remember many times that I regretted buying something; but, I remember a bunch of times regretting not doing so.
Not sure if any of that helps. Good luck.
I've had two people on a facebook Mauser group tell me no more than $1,000 given the sanded stock and byf 43 is one of the most common maker/year. The thing is, I can barely find a RC locally for $700. I've seen mismatched go for $900+. On gunbroker, mismatched are going for well over $1,000. I don't want to get ripped off, its just so confusing and I've researched as much as I can find.