New Parker Coach

[Mark Inman]

I have purchased a Parker Coach Gun...excellent shape. I'm waiting on a letter. What kind of things do I need to look for on this gun to prove it's authenticity? The numbers all match, the finish is very good, the gun is really tight. It has some Wells Fargo markings on it as well. Any info would help! Thx

[Ron Mueller]

Mark,
Pictures, gauge, barrel length and vin #'s would be good for a start to help us.
Best,
DD

[Dean Romig]

Vehicle Identification Numbers ??? :rolleyes:

Did you mean Serial Number?

[Mark Ouellette]

Hi Mark,

If you post the serial number someone will check the PARKER SERIALIZATION AND IDENTIFICATION Book, i.e. the Book, for it's original configuration.

Mark

[Mark Inman]

http://parkerguns.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=9659&stc=1&d=1310530916
http://parkerguns.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=9660&stc=1&d=1310530916
http://parkerguns.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=9661&stc=1&d=1310530916tid=9660&stc=1&d=1310530916

Wow...I finally figured out how to get these pictures on here...I have alot more in an album titled parker coach gun. This is a 12 ga Parker, It is a really tight gun and is in very good shape for its age. Go ahead and look it over and give me some honest feedback. Please visit the album and look at the rest of the pictures. I hope you will like what you see. thanks

http://parkerguns.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=9662&stc=1&d=1310531876

[Dean Romig]

I couldn't open your attachments.

[Frank Cronin]

Go to albums section in Mark's personal profile.

[Rich Anderson]

I would also try to contact Wells Fargo and see if they can provide any evidence that the gun was indeed shipped to them from Parker.

[John Liles]

No shots of the muzzle ends of the tubes! Could well preclude the need for a letter.

[Ron Mueller]

Mark,
Great pics, thanks for all the effort in sharing the great find. For my use, I'd figured I had purchased enough Parkers, I would add that one in a heart beat.
DD

PS And thanks for the "vin #'s"

[Mark Inman]

I have sent in for a letter, Wells Fargo says that they don't have any records because the guns were usually purchased by individual agent and not issued by the company. Seems kind of hokey to me that there are no records as big as Wells Fargo was back then and is today. I'll get some muzzle shots.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Wells Fargo "coach guns" are available at any gun show. How you get one is you find any hammer shotgun that's had the barrels sawed off, you buy a set of cheap die stamps and add the wording, they you price it like it's some great collectible rarity.

I went to a gun show a couple weeks ago and there were three in the room, all claimed to be original, none had any ounce of provenance. If you wanted a sawed off Parker to shoot for cowboy action then you've got a good one, if you wanted an authentic piece of history you got taken more than likely.

In all the running around I've done messing with guns since I was a kid I've seen exactly one Wells Fargo gun that had provenance. It included the invoice where the company had sold it off at an excess property auction. The gun was a cheap belgian made hammer gun with standard length barrels. I've always thought the whole sawed off coach gun thing was something created by Hollywood and there was the proof.


Destry

[Jim Akins]

Book shows it originally with 30' barrels ???

[Steve Huffman]

It looks as you can still see the pencil arch on the butt stock to guide the letters. I dont think that would still be there.:shock: I could be wrong.

[George Lander]

Mark: The PGCA Research letter should tell you who the gun was originally shipped to along with it's specifications. I have an early Colt revolver with the "WF&Co." markings on the butt strap along with a letter from the Colt Historian showing that it was one of a lot of five that was shipped to Wells Fargo in 1899. Yours could have been sent to them as well and later had the barrels cutt off either by them or by a later owner. The letter should tell. In any event, ENJOY YOUR PARKER!

Best Regards, George

[Mark Inman]

Thanks for the positive remarks and the bit of hope! MarketHunter had me beat into submission.

[George Lander]

Mark: I prefer to think "what it might be" rather that "why it can't be"

Best Regards, George

[John Liles]

Would the unstruck barrel weight on the barrel flats (4,8) be a rough indication of a 30" tube set? Still thinking that good pic's of the muzzle ends might shed some light. Hopefully the letter will show where she was sent back by WF&Co for modifications, even if it wasn't originally purchased by them.
John

[Ed Blake]

Destry was being realistic. These so-marked Wells Fargo guns have been discussed here before.

[Ron Mueller]

Mark,
I'm still trying to train myself, assume nothing (tis a long lesson). So, that being stated, if you find that it is not historic, has been altered:
1. dare I write this to be seen by purists, put choke tubes it it (if the muzzle walls are thick enough) so it can reach out for bird shooting (live or clay)
2. leave it a scatter gun and come join us at any local club, see SASSnet.com.
Be glad to have a fellow firearms enthusiast join us.
Best,
DD

[Ron Mueller]

Mark,
a post script, I'm a shooter, so you'll have to check to see if a smithy can put choke tubes in Damascus barrels.
DD

[Destry L. Hoffard]

I wasn't trying to be negative, just give facts. If it letters to Wells Fargo I believe it will be the only Parker "coach gun" to have done so as far as I ever heard. Anybody ever seen one that would letter? If so, I'd love to hear about it, give us all hope.....

Destry

[Dave Fuller]

The Wells Fargo museum in Portland has a "coach gun." It's not a Parker and it doesn't say Wells Fargo on it anywhere. Its part of a display of WF memorabilia that includes strong boxes, a stagecoach, money bags, this little shotgun and much more.

[Bruce Day]

With Destry's plain and correct explanation, I am reminded of Harry Truman's answer to a reporter who asked why he gave people Hell. His reply: " I don't give them Hell. I just tell them the truth and they think its Hell."

[Brent Francis]

I told my wife that............once.

[todd allen]

I'm not passing judgement on this gun, but I believe the vast majority of the Wells Fargo guns out there are fakes.
I would love to see this one authenticated.

[Larry Stauch]

Great, now Destry has me doubting the Easter Bunny...

[Dave Miles]

Great, now Destry has me doubting the Easter Bunny...



The truth hurts sometimes. :)

[King Brown]

" I don't give them Hell. I just tell them the truth and they think its Hell."

Reminds me of a gift from the great British cartoonist Hugh Burnett to me in the Arctic in 1963.

He drew a cartoon of two monks watching Inuit making an igloo, one saying to the other "Trouble is they think hell would be an improvement."

His monks were practically an institution, in Time and Life and the Daily Mail. Hugh drew my cartoon on the cover page of his "Sacred and Confidential."

[George Lander]

Think of all the stagecoaches that roamed the Old West in the late 1800's & early 1900's, Each one carried at least one guard who was armed with at least one weapon, be it rifle, pistol or scattergun. Some, but certainly not all, were marked with the name of the company, Wells Fargo, Butterfield, American Express, etc. It is not inconceivable that there are authentic ones out there either full length or sawed off. True, there are a lot more fakes than real, but there must be some real ones as well.

It reminds me of Lt. Dixon's $20 gold piece that for over 100 years legend said that he carried as a good luck piece through the hell of Shiloh and onto the first submarine Hunley. It was given to him on his departure by his girfriend Queenie Bennett. It was only legend until the little Hunley was found and excavated and lo and behold along with Lt. Dixon's remains was found the double eagle dented where it was struck by a minie ball at Shiloh. Unknown to anyone, living, before that time he had a jeweler inscribe the back of it: "Shiloh April 6, 1862 My Life Preserver G.E.D." Of such stuff are legends made.

Best Regards, George

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

George, I was at the Hunley burial service and funeral several years ago, 2-1/2 miles long a very moving tribute. The men on board did not know the history they were making, almost like the first men on the moon. " Honor is like an island, rugged and without shores; We can never reenter it once we are on the outside! Nicolas Boileau- Despreaux 17th Century writer

[Dean Romig]

General Equivilence Diploma ??

[George Lander]

No Dean: Lt. George E. Dixon

Gary: I was there when the Hunley was raised from it's grave. I was standing on the point of Sullivan's Island just outside the walls of Fort Moultrie along with several hundred others. It was a moving experience. With binoculars I could see it very plainly. I could'nt make it to the crew's burial. That must have been a moving experience.

Best Regards, George