Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuck Bishop
Bruce,
How would you and your Mid West buddy rate this A-1 special compared to other A-1's you've seen? I've only seen pictures of other A-1's. I saw the Invincibles at the PGCA banquet but couldn't look at them real close. Is the engraving more ornate than other A-1's or anything else that would seem to indicate that the gun was made for someone special?
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Chuck, there were two excellent articles on the Czar A-1 Special, DGJ and PP's, written by Austin Hogan, whom you see holding the gun. The articles accurately describe how the gun was made known to the Parker community and how the gun came to become available for re-sale. Without going back to those articles, it is my memory that the gun does not have any inscription that ties it to the Czar. However, there are contemporary documents saying the gun was made for the Czar and that it was to exhibit the best that Parker could do. See the attached newspaper article from the Meriden paper.
I believe that the consensus among collectors is that this gun has excellent deep cut engraving consistent with other top A-1 Specials. The only downside ( disclosed by Julia's) to this gun was that the stock had been replaced and was not up to A-1S standards. Trevallion could make a Parker perfect replacement with time and expense , however the Julia's purchaser stated that he was not concerned about that and was going to take the gun duck hunting.
The purpose of the posting at this time was that the other A-1 Special had just sold in San Francisco and there was discussion here about its engraving. Interested forum readers might want to compare the guns.
The SF gun sold for $60,000 plus 15%. The Czar gun sold for $250,000 plus 12%. Contemporary fine A-1 Specials were selling for $100,000 to $175,000; the unknown at the time was to what extent the value would increase because of the Czar connection. The gun drew considerable attention from high end collectors at the time although there were the usual adverse comments on this forum at the time from those who did not have the ability to enter the game.
Lest we forget, a beat up Springfield military rifle assigned to Lt Col Custer's command, tied to shell casings at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, and with Crow Indian carvings, sold for $500,000. Beat up Colt revolvers from western outlaws and lawmen have sold about that high.
Other collectors may have their own rememberances and views.
Best,
Bruce