Mr Douglas - Your Parker No. 3196 find is what dreams are made of - however, it is very beat up and abused and would take many thousands of dollars to bring it back to its former glory. A PGCA Research Letter ($100 for non-members) would give the "dollar quality" of your gun but to put it into more commonly used terms it would probably be a $250 or a $300 quality Parker. Later in production it would have been designated as a B grade (5) or an A grade (6) and at the time yours was produced there were no higher grades.
You're a very lucky guy to have found that one - there aren't many left.
Now the quandry - What to do with it???
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"I'm a Setter man.
Not because I think they're better than the other breeds,
but because I'm a romantic - stuck on tradition - and to me, a Setter just "belongs" in the grouse picture."
George King, "That's Ruff", 2010 - a timeless classic.
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