A.W. du Bray's great grandson

[John Sexson]

I am Arthur's great grandson, and I own two guns that I inherited from him. I am interested in a $ amount for insurance purposes, or for possible sale to the right collector.

(1) Parker double barrel pigeon shotgun (March 26, 1878..serial # 86637).
(2) Sharps 45-90 carbine (February 15, 1859..serial #39695).

There is also a trophy he won in a pigeon shooting contest, and various hunting knives.

I have signed verification from A.W. du Bray that he owned them.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

John A. Sexson

[Bindlestiff]

86637 is a grade 7 Top Action 12ga. There are very few grade 7 hammer guns, 5 are recorded in The Parker Story.

I'm sure that Parker will hold lots of interest with the members here.

In order to sell on this site you will need to join the PGCA to gain access to the for sale secton but a guess on value without seeing it would be difficult. But, it will command a large $$$ value; the question is how large.

I talked to Jack Puglisi a few years ago, he had one listed for sale. Since he has passed, I don't know where that Parker ended up.

I would love to see some pictures of these guns and trophy!

[Randy Roberts]

Yes, pictures please. I'm afraid you will not find many folks willing to help with values without the pictures. A Grade 7 hammer gun, WOW. Pictures

[Mills]

Robin gives good advice. Yes, WOW, please post some pictures.

[B. Dudley]

Condition will do a lot to determine value of both of the guns.

I always like to tell people to just use the Blue Book values for insurance since they are usually on the high side, and they are in print, thus documented. But, the book would not take into account any additional value your guns may have due to their being owned by your great grandfather. And, I would say that the Parker would hold value for that reason over the Sharps, due to his connection with the company.

Oh, if Muderlak was alive...

[Dean Romig]

But you need to be a PGCA Member to even suggest a gun will be for sale.

You can join online from our home page and it is only $40/yr.





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[Kevin McCormack]

John, Ed Muderlak and I talked about the hammer pigeon gun many times. The March 26, 1878 date you refer to in talking about the gun is probably a patent date reference; I own 88653, a Grade 6 hammerless, which was built in 1897. If you decide to sell the trophy, I would be interested in it.

[Big D]

I'm sure Mr Sexson was unaware of the prohibition for non-members to sell on the site. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if his private message box is filled at this point. I wonder if it would be appropriate in the future to limit the Private Message function to members only. I'm sure Mr Dunkle is looking for more work to do

[Bindlestiff]

Yes condition counts. These grade 7 hammer guns are at the top of my Parker desire list, even more so to me than any of the three grade 9 guns. I just think the AA hammer guns are perfection. Over the years I have had the opportunity to buy two of them but passed because of the asking price. In the mid 90's I passed on one that Dick Stewart had, he was asking $49K at the time and a few years ago Jack had one that he was asking $250K. The one that Jack had is pictured in our Grades web page.

Pictures will get comments going I'm sure so please post some for our viewing pleasure!

[Bruce Day]

Where your great grandfather lived in San Francisco. Corner suite , top floor, Sutter Hotel at Sutter and Geary streets.

This is only a couple blocks away from the Hotel Belvedere, where private detective Sam Spade officed at Spade and Archer Detective Services. Sam met Mrs Archer in the first level coffee shop of the Sutter Hotel after the untimely death of her husband, Sam’s partner. Discussions were held about the whereabouts of a certain black bird.