Help determining what I have

[wxup3248]

I inherited this gun from my grandfather who bought off a drug addict needing quick cash. At one time a gun dealer told my grandfather (or so the story goes) that this gun was worth around $22k. I’m thinking that is highly unlikely given I can’t find a single Marlin valued anywhere near that amount.

Gun is a block action, serial number 15548, has two patents listed under Ballard and JM Marlin. Another number located near the patent info is 1875.

Will try to figure out how to upload pictures.

[marlinman93]

Without seeing pictures, it's impossible to give you an idea of value. I can tell you it's a Marlin Ballard rifle, and the very high serial number for a JM Marlin marked variation puts it likely in the 1881-82 time frame. After 1881 Marlin incorporated, and the rollstamp on later Ballard rifles was changed to Marlin Firearms Co., so your Ballard is one of the latest of the JM Marlin marked Ballard rifles with the high serial number.
If you want to send me a PM I can give you my email address to send pictures to, so maybe I can identify which model you have, and the value. I can definitely tell you that I've seen very few Marlin Ballard rifles that would ever get near a $22k price estimate or sell for that! It would take an extremely rare model, in mint condition to reach that estimate.