Parker Cover Art or Not?

[John Gardner]

Like Frank - (thank you for that great post, DuBray: Long or Short barrels, BTW and I am very envious of your American Field collection - super cool! :bowdown:) - I too enjoy going through the old periodicals from the 'era' for Parker related material and just the pleasure about reading the thoughts and ideas from back then.

I came across this magazine cover while searching for something else as I don't usually look beyond the '30s. Is this the artist's (H. Hoecker) rendition of a Parker or not??

What do you guys think? :corn:

[edgarspencer]

I'd have to say yes. Hinge pin is the first clue, then checkering ala grade 7, and barrel wedges ala grade 8. The artist had a pretty good idea what a Parker looked like, and maybe it's best he left the engraving light so as not to spoil his efforts.

[Drew Hause]

Trojan Skeet

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1373/6511424/18779715/392757520.jpg

William Harnden Foster possibly depicting his son shooting Foster Sr's 27" barrel 20 gauge DHE SN 225905

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1373/6511424/18779715/298465485.jpg

[John Gardner]

Thanks Edgar. Neat covers Drew! I've seen the National Sportsman before but didn't know it was a Parker. There's one NS with the title Four-of-a-Kind that I think might also have a Parker plus the Oct. 1920 NS. What year's the Outdoor Life?

[Bill Murphy]

I have a framed December 12, 1942 Saturday Evening Post in my dining room. It has everything, a Parker G Grade, a Remington 1894, and a Springer Spaniel. The Parker Story mentions some Parker covers. The Springer cover is pictured on page 780. Not mentioned is the cover of the August 2004 issue of the Skeet Shooting Review, which is the only cover I am aware of that pictures a .410 Parker Skeet gun. It is a full page color photo.

[John Gardner]

Hi Bill, I just saw an Outter's Recreation with I think a Parker on the cover listed on eBay. I have seen the TPS magazine cover and various ads. I really like the colours of the old magazines and catalogs and have framed them too. Has anyone tried to compile a list of the various magazine covers that feature a Parker? I find it fun to chase them down and it's not too expensive and way nicer than the ads I have found thus far. Did Parker ever advertise in colour? Most I have found are less than half page and black and white only.

[Bill Murphy]

Parker advertising is not colorful. Calendars, posters, and store signs are colorful, but very rare. Magazine covers with Parkers are where the color is. We've talked about it before, but this thread may be our best bet for cataloguing all known Parker covers.

[Bill Murphy]

John, what is the item number of the Outer's Recreation?

[John Gardner]

Hi Bill,
Sorry I just got back on the forum now. The spelling is Outter's Recreation and it should come up. I only have limited time this week but I will also look up the cover with the four guys playing cards with a Parker in the weeds and post it. The Outter's magazine is in rough shape

[Bill Murphy]

I found the misspelled Outer's cover and the gun doesn't seem to be a Parker. Who else has found a Parker cover?

[edgarspencer]

John and I were 'talking' the other day and I mentioned my recollection of an LL Bean catalog from my youth, which showed LL's DHE. I went looking for a copy of it, and while I'm not sure I found the one I remember, I did find a 1970 catalog showing his Parker. I bought it, and when it gets here, I'll post a picture of it.

[edgarspencer]

From a mint Fall, 1970 LL Bean Catalog. The staples aren't even rusty.
This was Leland's DHE, and was featured in several catalogs.
I Sure wish the prices were the same today. $18.00 for a pair of 10" Bean Boots.

[Dean Romig]

Edgar, I presume that is the twenty gauge sinestrally configured DHE on display in the case on the landing between the first and second levels of the hunting and fishing departments at L.L. Bean in Freeport.

His 16 gauge CHE sold at a Julia's auction about four or five years ago... I wonder why Bean's didn't keep that gun for display as well.... ?

[John Gardner]

Great catalog Edgar, I have a couple old Bean catalogs but never knew about the Parker connection. I'll start hunting. Bill, thank you for the tip on the Saturday Evening Post. I was able to secure a copy and there is another copy still listed.

[edgarspencer]

Edgar, I presume that is the twenty gauge sinestrally configured DHE on display in the case on the landing between the first and second levels of the hunting and fishing departments at L.L. Bean in Freeport.

His 16 gauge CHE sold at a Julia's auction about four or five years ago... I wonder why Bean's didn't keep that gun for display as well.... ?

It's been so long since I've been to the Freeport store, so I really can't say. There's nothing in the 4 photos in the catalog that would hint to it being out off the ordinary.

[Richard Flanders]

Not Parker related but if anyone is interested in reading the very first issue - Vol. 1, No. 1 - of Outdoor Life from 1898, I have a PDF scan of it I made up from an original a friend has. It's a bit large a file to email but I can dropbox it. It has a cool story of an Alaskan moose hunt in the Kuskokwim area.

[John Gardner]

I would certainly like to read it

[John Gardner]

October 1924 has four guys playing cards with what looks like a Parker in the lower left corner of the cover.

[John Gardner]

Sorry had finger trouble yesterday - National Sportsman Oct 1924 may have Parker on cover. I will post pics and two others on weekend.

[John Gardner]

New Pictures as promised. Not sure all are Parkers but you can decide. The definite Parker is from National Sportsman Sept 1936, The ones from 1924 and 1921 are artist's renditions so...your call! :)

[charlie cleveland]

love those old ad s...wish the magazines today had a little of the old mag sstyle..thanks for the pictures...charlie

[edgarspencer]

The Remington ad definitely shows a Parker and it looks like a G grade.

[John Gardner]

you are most welcome Charlie - glad you liked them. I would appreciate hearing from anyone else who knows what other period magazines featured Parkers on the covers.

What about the other two Edgar? Those are the ones I am not sure about.

[edgarspencer]

The one in the foreground of the National Sportsman has the hinge pin and receiver profile of a Parker, perhaps loosely interpreted by the artist, but the one on Outers Recreation isn't a Parker. It looks like it might be a Lefever Nitro Special, or possibly an Ithica. I pay so little attention to all the 'others' I am an unreliable person for this sort of stuff.
There's a gun shop in Maine, on my route to our place up there. I always stop by, and with the unique hinge pin on a Parker, I can scan his huge rack of SxSs in about 15 seconds, and be back in the car before my wife gets antsy.

[Dean Romig]

There's a gun shop in Maine, on my route to our place up there. I always stop by, and with the unique hinge pin on a Parker, I can scan his huge rack of SxSs in about 15 seconds, and be back in the car before my wife gets antsy.


Edgar, please PM me with the name of the shop and the town.....


HEY, I'm not asking you for the coordinates of your favorite woodcock cover...:whistle:

[John Gardner]

Here's a couple more covers. The Outdoor Life has (I think) a Parker on both the front and back cover

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

This from the 1987 Gun Digest, I believe the 20 gauge A-1 special belongs to Mr Herzog, and the lower gun is a 28 gauge reproduction by Mr Skeuse

[Craig Parker]

Just picked this up should have in a couple days and see what I got.

Craig

[charlie cleveland]

you boys shore got some fine posters there..i never tire of looking at all these things...charlie

[Rick Losey]

Just picked this up should have in a couple days and see what I got.

Craig

very nice Craig Parker setter and grouse - perfect trilogy

[charlie cleveland]

you boys got any more of these fine posters....charlie

[Rick Losey]

old thread - but i saw this one on eBay while looking for something else

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/jngAAOSwx2lbmDo9/s-l1600.jpg

[Dean Romig]

Very cool and His signature is right there in the lower left.






.

[Tom Flanigan]

John and I were 'talking' the other day and I mentioned my recollection of an LL Bean catalog from my youth, which showed LL's DHE. I went looking for a copy of it, and while I'm not sure I found the one I remember, I did find a 1970 catalog showing his Parker. I bought it, and when it gets here, I'll post a picture of it.

I remember those old LL Bean catalogs. The gun was a DHE and it was owned by LL himself. I asked someone at the store and they told me that it was LL's personal gun that he hunted with. He was gone when the catalogs were done and I would imagine that it was then owned by a member of the family.

[Marty Kohler]

Quite a few years ago I do remember that Herscial Chaddick had it for sale.

I inquired but I was too late.....

He ,of course, wouldn't divulge who purchased it.....

[Dean Romig]

The DHE is still on display in the mezzanine between the ground floor hunting and shooting department and the second floor fishing department in Freeport, Maine. It is mounted vertically in a glass or plexi-glass case. That DHE has a "sinestral" stock because of the loss of vision in the right eye that LL suffered later in life.

I asked the gun department manager if I could examine it and do a photo layout and story on the gun for Parker Pages and he said "Yes, please do."
When I came back with my photography stuff about a month later I was told by the manager of advertising and publicity "Absolutely not!"

I've been treated poorly by Bean's before that so it wasn't a huge surprise.... just a big slap in the face.

The LL Bean Parker that was sold several years ago went through JD Julia Auctions and it was a CHE.





.

[edgarspencer]

The one shown in the catalog photos I posted previously did not have a sinestral stock.
I’m not at all surprised by their response to your request, Dean, but you may recall our conversation out on the deck on one of my visits with you, (well, with Kathy, but you were there) that I had a positive response from the local LLB people when I approached them to shoot some photos wth their products with one of my DHEs. I have not, as yet followed up but will when their winter line is out. Any excuse to pick up another shirt, doncha know.

[Dean Romig]

Good luck Edgar - I'll be interested to learn how that goes. It will probably come off without a hitch.

I'm sure the final answer I got, refusing my request, came from a 'non-gun' guy who doesn't really understand the mindset of a true lover of Parkers.

Your Parker and their clothes, etc. is definitely a different story.





.

[Eric Eis]

[QUOTE=Dean Romig;254743]Good luck Edgar - I'll be interested to learn how that goes. It will probably come off without a hitch.

I'm sure the final answer I got, refusing my request, came from a 'non-gun' guy who doesn't really understand the mindset of a true lover of Parkers.

Your Parker and their clothes, etc. is definitely a different story.


But that's the point, Beans was founded on hunting, it's not just Parker's they try and sell hunting and fishing but they really don't care about that part. It sucks !

[Brett Hoop]

It's not just them. I was in Cabela's Wheeling, WV Gun Library a few weeks ago and saw a shotgun that I thought I could perhaps be interested in purchasing. One of their people at my request got the gun out of the case and handed it to me. I moved the top lever right to check the gun and this didn't make him happy. Then when I asked for him to remove the trigger lock I was informed that was "impossible under any circumstances". Seems they have a new policy. So I have adopted a new policy myself.

[Craig Larter]

This I like this from the 1920 National Sportsman. I have the scan done for a poster if your interested. Craig

[Dean Romig]

That must have been one crowded sidecar, what with two Parkers, several decoys and one lovely young lady hunting partner.





.

[charlie cleveland]

i have this issue of national sportsman...this picture is one of my favorites...charlie

[John G Gardner]

I have been away Gents and just back now. Charlie I agree that is one of my all time favourite covers and hard to find. I may have one in rough shape I will check I do have what I think is one of the most attractive covers with a female shooter I was fortunate to secure from another member. It is now framed (the entire magazine) and I will post it later. Craig please post me a price for a poster if you still have any. Thank you.

[Jeff Kuss]

I bought a 24"x32" poster of the hunters with the motorcycle from Ken Waite years ago.

[John G Gardner]

I would definitely like to secure one if possible. Here is another favorite of mine from American Shooter October 1916. Center crease is unfortunate but still a beauty.