Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Steingraber
As someone that is relatively new to the Parker universe I am continually amazed at the scope of original condition guns tucked away in our member’s safes and gun rooms. Bruce’s gun, among others in recent discussions and some recent research in the archives have me mesmerized thinking about the guns that are out there. I’ve only been to a dozen or so good sized shoots or gun shows and have a feeling that I have only the most elementary understanding of the guns that are out there. In the spirit of Thanksgiving and Christmas it would be amazing if some of our more experienced and successful members/collectors could share a few photos to help us newbees grow our understanding of all things Parker and maybe spark some memories for our older members of the “chase” that resulted in their successful acquisitions. Thanks in advance.
DS
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I have believed for years that the reason it is so hard to find high quality guns is that they have all moved into the collections of people who have acquired large numbers of them. I believe that in almost every collector community, the best pieces are concentrated in a relatively small number of collections. This is true of guns, automobiles etc. In the case of guns, I think the concentrations are largely in the hands of people of a certain age, since the collecting started post WWII when quality doubles disappeared. I have notice a lot in the last few years that when a major collector dies, there is often a significant influx of expensive ones at auction. I suspect over the next few years this will drive a price decline in the high end of the market. Lower demand and more product available. Sad fact of life. These concentrated collections right now serve as a safe depository of these significant guns, but that function may not be served as well in the future.
It's like one experience I had at a car show in Huntington WV. In the midde of some really nice sports cars was a historic early Austin Healy. It was one of only six factory full race Healys with all aluminum bodies. A guy about 25 years old had the car and a complete exhibit with pictures of the absolutely mint car he had acquired and converted it into a hot rod with louvers, scoops, flares, Recaro seats, new dash, huge wheels and tires and a Ford V-8. He couldn't understand why everyone was stopping, looking, calling him an idiot and moving on.
Unless a significant number of young people get interested, a lot of these guns that have survived may disappear in the future.
12-04-2023, 12:09 PM
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