Mine was, as they say dropped in my lap. A gentleman brought a 1891 "G" grade 12 ga. 30" into my club asking about having the stock refinished. He was referred to me account of it being a Parker and I have a few. I told the gentleman that it depended on who he sent it to to be refinished. It could be anywhere from $400.00 to who knows depending on the amount of work. Looking at the stock it just looked quite dirty and the barrels were a sooty black. The gentleman said he heard that I did the stocks on my Parkers and asked to see them. I showed them to him and he asked if I was interested in doing the job. I told him I am no professional. If he wanted me to take it home and try to clean it some I would. He agreed.
After about 3 hours of cleaning with mineral spirits I was surprised to see the checkering came out almost like new. It took another 3 hours of cleaning on the barrels and I was amazed at the Damascus pattern. The bores were mirror bright with plenty of wall thickness, almost new. There was no way this gun had been used very much at all. It looked like some one just propped it in the corner behind a coal stove for quite some time. When I brought it back to the owner he was surprised and I told him if I owned the gun that I would take it out and shoot it and enjoy it. He then said he was told that the gun was only worth about a thousand dollars. He then asked me how long I spent working on it and I told him about 6 hours. Then he totally shocked me. He said if I had $400.00 he would let me keep the gun. Needless to say I couldn't get to the ATM fast enough. Someone smiled on me that day.
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07-22-2023, 10:42 AM
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