I don't want to be an alarmist, but....

[King Cobb]

People were buying though, I can say that.

[Keavin Nelson]

I am fortunate in having a son who greatly enjoys the Parkers, but in early 30s, not much disposable income to buy his own, so my guns get regular use which is nice. He has one I built for him on his 16th birthday.

As to price, I attended a show yesterday, and inquired on the price for a 16Ga VH on an O frame, with a badly fixed broken stock and forend checkering that looked like a beaver did it, thinking I could buy it reasonably to restock. The elderly gentlemen told me $4000. I put it back on the rack!

I take my son's friends out to shoot sporting clays with my doubles every chance I get. And at least two of them have expressed an interest in acquiring a vintage double.

[PML]

I think we can say that the Parker Ephemera market is alive and well.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...dmd=1&_ipg=200


PML

[OH Osthaus]

Originally Posted by Patrick Lien

I think we can say that the Parker Ephemera market is alive and well.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...dmd=1&_ipg=200


PML

or hope springs eternal

[Kensal Rise]

For what it's worth:
I just spent some time at a noted "antique arms" show in the Great Lakes area. As a result a few things were glaringly obvious to me:

1) At least 80% of those attending were old men. With grey hair, canes, walkers, limps, and AARP memberships.

2) Same for the table holders.

3) The show tables were strewn with old guns with wooden stocks, surface blemishes and varying patina. Old dudes weren't buying them. And the few attendees under 60 didn't want them.

4) It appeared to me as though the "Boomers" were finally unloading their collections. en masse. But the market had passed them by. And prices were generally low. But still, very little was being scooped up.

This may be an anomaly, but I don't think so. I've had at least half a dozen good English doubles on consignment at a VERY well known midwest shop. Exactly ONE has sold in the last 11 months.

But I'm not worried. I've got a plastic-stocked, black-anodized AR-10 that my son can make a tidy profit on when he retires.

[C.O.B.]

With "collector quality" firearms weather they are shotguns or rifles condition determines most of the price. Rarity as in a small bore Parker or a Pre64 M70 in say 7MM or 300 Savage raises the price bar but without condition you won't realize top dollar.

[Big D]

The OP observed that Parkers seemed to be getting cheaper. Economics 101 tells you that the only way a commodity declines in price is either an increase in supply (That ain't happening with old Parkers) or a decline in demand. For all the reasons discussed above, the answer is - The envelope please - Tah Dah - "decline in demand" - and IMHO will only get worse as us oldies stop buying and our wives sell off our stuff to a shrinking crowd of folks who want these guns

[John Allen]

Actually there are more Parkers on the market now than I have seen in 40+ years in the gun business.This morning on Gunsinternational there are 471 Parkers listed.You cannot judge the market by what you see at shows now.Shows are now the wholesale supplier for out of production guns of all kinds.The retail sales take place on the internet.I know of several dealers who only go to shows to buy and then post the guns on the internet.That is the new successsful business model for modern gun dealers.I do agree that the demand is down for the average "shooter"grade guns.High condition and rare guns are bringing more than they ever have in my experience.

[jay shachter]

Hey Guys,

It is a concern of someone like myself who has chosen this as a business and a means of support for my family and retirement. I ask these question often, and others have asked me a lot over the last few years. What I see is that there are replacements for the older gents that are no longer shooting and are therefore selling there guns. The replacements are the 45-55 year olds who have a better than average income, some time to have a dog and read the sporting journals that tout our style of guns, have killed their fair share of game with modern guns, and have become nostalgic with their middle age sanctum. They want a car like they had in college, a motorcycle like they had in high school, and a gun that they just read about or maybe their uncle had. They are our new buyers. The problem is that we, the baby boomers, outnumber the newcomers by a substantial number. The replacements are not coming in at the rate the older gents are going out, but I believe "nostalgia" will always occur. Many experienced shooters decide that the romance is better than the technology, the history is more interesting than modern, and as some other writer said, "it is now how many you kill, by how you kill them" or something like that, becomes the thoughts of the hunter when they wake up to go afield.

There are fewer buyers, no doubt. But I don't see it falling away, just balancing out. Keep in mind, there are fewer good guns out there as time goes by, and that will help keep prices close to what they are now.

Jay Shachter, President
Vintage Firearms, Inc.
www.vfiguns.com

[Bill Murphy]

Jay knows the market and knows that the market for above average guns will never go away. Average guns will flood the market and be sold at lower prices, but scarce guns in minty condition will always be sold at high prices if properly marketed. Remember when we were kids, surplus guns were sold at ridiculous low prices, $9.95 and up for great military collector guns that are now sold for thousands. The same thing will happen with average bird guns in the next 20 years, except that they will not appreciate at the same rate as the $9.95 guns did, or maybe they will. It is not a great loss to those of us who chose wisely in our purchases over the last few decades.