The first 20 gauge hammer gun

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

Gents, I thought I would tease you a little with these photos of the first 20 gauge hammergun and also the only $250.00 or "A" grade made. These are the only photos I have right now, but shows the unusual engraving. Enjoy !!

[Dave Suponski]

Gary, What a wonderful gun! All I can say is WOW! Thanks for sharing the gun with us.

[Mark Landskov]

Wow! Wotta jewel! Thanks for sharing.

[David Dwyer]

WOW!!!! Gary,you have done a fantastic job of cleaning up that treasure.
That is by far the finest underlever in existence!! Thank you for sharing it.
David

[Bruce Day]

Well I think several people had an opportunity with this gun and Gary had the ability to acquire it and mildly restore it. Its a wonderful gun among other wonderful lifter action guns and is particularly interesting because it is a small bore in an era when small bores were not popular and were very limited in ability. I'm not downplaying the gun, its a great little Parker and I'm fascinated by the artful engraving scenes.

Added: These early 20's were made for 3/4 oz shot and a 2 dram load. Thats a slow 28ga load by todays standards.

[Bill Murphy]

I don't know what Bruce just said, but I'm waiting for the edit or delete.

[edgarspencer]

I feel like I just walked into a party, right after the punchline was delivered. You all seem to know what's going on, where the guns been or what it looked like before it looks like it does now, which is just plain beautiful. I'm not versed enough to know the difference between $250, and A grade, as I thought they were distinct gradings at different periods. I think the OP put the pics up to share with us what a beautiful gun it is. AT least for my part, I appreciate that he did.

[Bruce Day]

Edgar, Gary is a friend and the owner of the gun. The Parker Story (TPS) reveals that for early guns, such as this, different grades were called dollar grades, the grades determined by the price charged. It wasn't until later, I don't recall the year, that Parker changed to A, B, C, etc. So, the $250 grade was the most expensive for the time, and would be the same as the A grade as it was later termed.

That's my understanding, maybe others can fill in if I am wrong or off.

Some of these guns get to be known by a few people before they are known throughout the collecting community, as anything desireable anywhere. I had heard of the gun, but had not seen it, and it couldn't belong to a more dedicated and knowledgeable collector than the present owner. This is a significant Parker and joins a group of other great and significant Parkers.

I hope this is understandable, I usually edit posts if my post is confusing, imprecise or incorrect to an average person.

[edgarspencer]

I guess the opening post implied that $250 and A were used simultaneously, which was new to me.
I'm not unfamiliar with how pieces of this significance appear in the daylight after previously thought to be mere 'urban legends'. I was offered and subsequently agreed to buy a historically significant, and well traveled gun. It had been in the same hands for nearly 100 years, and when word got out that it had been sold, it suddenly became suspect of fake, upgrade, etc. It kinda took the pleasure out of being able to show it until it was authenticated by the manufacturer's archivist, Robert Wilson and the CT State Librarian.
I appreciate any owner who is willing to share his collection with others. Invariably there will be back-chatter, but it goes with the territory I guess.
It's especially great to see the 'first' anything, and whether i has been restored, or is in original condition, the impact of seeing it isn't diminished.

[Greg Baehman]

I'm kinda afraid to ask, but did it come with barrels? :duck:

If so, can you describe them?

[Bruce Day]

Greg, sure it has barrels and I'm sure Gary will post them when he gets around to it. Damascus of course, as was described to me.

Edgar, looking at catalogs, the earliest I have is about from the mid 1870's and lists guns by dollar, $200 being the highest then. The next I have is the 1882 catalog which lists both top action and lifter action and calls them by letter grade, A being highest. So sometime in the late 1870's to 1882, the nomenclature changed. But I suppose its simplest to call all the top grades then A's and everyone likely knows what that means.

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

I will try to post some more photo's including the barrelsas soon as Im can next couple days, thanks ,Gary by the way the barrels were rebrowned by bachelder that is why the barrels were not avaliable at photo time.

[Bruce Day]

One of the best things about this gun is that Gary exhibits his guns at PGCA meetings, so folks will get a chance to see this gun in person. A great piece and of historical significance.

Thanks for sharing, Gary.

Edgar, I don't think people here would mind if you posted photos of your other guns, I assume the rare gun you are talking about is a Colt. We have an other guns category and many people that I know here have some great guns from other makers and would appreciate seeing great guns of whatever make. Even after we posted photos of the Parker-Hawes bamboo rods ( made by Merritt Hawes, son of Hiram) , we had several people post photos of other fine rods.

Bruce Day, Parker novice third class hoping to rise to novice second class