Rare BHE .410 4/0-frame sighting

[Wild Skies]

Originally Posted by Greg Baehman

Another rare Repro seen was being offered by Larry Baer. An A-1 Special in-the-white 3 bbl. set in its factory O & L case. 28/28/.410 on a 00-frame. Reportedly the only one ever produced.

Well, what goes around comes around . . . this very gun that I had mentioned seeing on the late Larry Baer's table at the Beinfeld '14 Winter Vegas in the 1st post of this thread and subsequently listed on GB without finding a buyer, will now be offered in the upcoming Oct. 6 & 7, 2015 James D. Julia auction.

http://jamesdjulia.com/item/2388-386/

[ForrestArmstrong]

Apparently Mr. Baer was a pretty good engraver himself. Check out his custom Grullas in the auction.

[Wild Skies]

Another rare Repro seen was being offered by Larry Baer. An A-1 Special in-the-white 3 bbl. set in its factory O & L case. 28/28/.410 on a 00-frame. Reportedly the only one ever produced.

Originally Posted by Greg Baehman

Well, what goes around comes around . . . this very gun that I had mentioned seeing on the late Larry Baer's table at the Beinfeld '14 Winter Vegas in the 1st post of this thread and subsequently listed on GB without finding a buyer, will now be offered in the upcoming Oct. 6 & 7, 2015 James D. Julia auction.

http://jamesdjulia.com/item/2388-386/

Just to close the loop on this in-the-white and unengraved Parker Reproduction A-1 Special 00-frame bi-gauge 28/28/.410 3-bbl. set . . . Julia's did find a buyer for it. The new owner paid at least $26,450.00 to get it . . . and probably only has ~ $10K or so to go to complete it.

[Bill Murphy]

The bigger question is "What happened to the 0000 frame .410 that Steve Barnett was selling for Paul Dorsa?" It doesn't seem to be on Steve's website today.

[Wild Skies]

Well, as our friend the late Ed Muderlak would've said . . . "The investigation continues."

[davidkerns]

I would investigate the gun a bit more , im sure you checked to make sure the the bbls and the frame have the same serial#s , I am agreement with others that d grade engraving is a definite detract and I could be wrong , I don't think it will be treated like a double struck coin .
When a collector is buying a gun , particularly a Parker Reproduction if anything you would like to find the B grade with higher grade engraving , and on some original Parkers on rare occasion you would find a D grade gun with an extra duck or some extra engraving on the gun , again this is rare but it did happen , and sometimes a special order gun may have the extra embellishments.
I would say the wrong engraving drives the price down , none the less , this makes it a target for the seller to have to take a lower price , particularly once the news has travelled
and the seller knows what he has , and the item has not sold for some apparent reason.
Good luck on your venture.
Dave Kerns PGCA member#1691

[Wild Skies]

In going back and re-reading this thread it brings up several unanswered questions regarding these very alluring and intriguing little 0000-frame Repros. Questions like -- where did the numbers in the production chart for the .410s come from? Are these documented numbers, or are they assumptions? The 33 listed DHE .410s do not mention what size frame they were built on, nor do the 9 BHE 410s. Another question brought up in another thread was -- Do the .0000-frame production Repros with beavertail forends have the reinforcement rod?

Then we have the Nick Sisley quote in an article that he wrote about Parker Reproductions in the Jan/ Feb 1996 issue of Shotgun Sports magazine where he writes -- "Finally, the factory started 133 .410s on the tiny 4/0 frame. They completed 33 of these, and that's when production ceased. . . . As for the 100 partially made .410s on the 4/0 frame, Jack Skeuse continues to build as time and experienced gunsmiths permit." OK, here we have some numbers, but no mention of what grade they were finished out in.

Then, to add to the confusion regarding the 9 BHE .410s in the production chart, we have this -- a .410 BHE Repro on a 0000-frame -- the 2nd 4/0-frame BHE to be found with DHE-style engraving, Serial No. B .410-0052 . . . if there were only 9 built, how do we explain this gun at #52? Can we answer that without a question?

[Bill Murphy]

The number 52 can be explained by realizing that by popular rumor, 133 were started. There are probably a few of them still out there, but they are buried deep and will be expensive.

[Wild Skies]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

The number 52 can be explained by realizing that by popular rumor, 133 were started. There are probably a few of them still out there, but they are buried deep and will be expensive.

Wow, that is certainly is a different response to the 9 BHEs you claimed were built back on page 3 of this thread.

[Bill Murphy]

The nine BHEs were completed guns, or maybe there were 33.