family owned .410 VH help!

[cwguy5]

I am trying to learn more about Parker Brothers as a company and also my particular shotgun as well. I have a .410 VH hammerless with serial #217752 (1926). My grandfather, Arthur Carver from Durham, NC, bought the gun along with his two cousins. The three of them mail-ordered the guns and received three identical .410's in the mail, with sequentially ordered serial numbers. I do not know the whereabouts of the two other guns but I am planning on finding out very soon whether they are still with my living uncles. Mr. Carver used his .410 as his daily hunting gun. He was involved in the tobacco industry but had a great love of hunting and dogs. He was a national champion bird dog trainer in the 20's and 30's and the gun obviously saw a lot of use but was taken care of well. I never knew my grandfather as he passed away a few years before I was born. My mother had the gun when she passed away 10 years ago. She only told me that the gun had two identical brothers and that it was Mr. Carver's everyday carry. I'm not sure if she knew any more than that or not. I plan to keep the gun for my daughter and to keep in the family.

I do not have pics now but will be posting them soon when I have access to the shotgun. I have a couple of general questions though. I took it in to have the lead gunsmith at a very large gun and coin shop in Charlotte recently. The smith was very friendly and took a good deal of time talking to me and answering questions. He graded the gun about about "60%." There are no major flaws and only one very small dent in one of the barrels. The stock is probably the worst of the elements with several deep scratches and lots of small ones.

When does one restore? What makes a gun a good or bad candidate for restoration. The smith I talked to said this gun would be a "perfect" candidate. Even though I am planning to hold on to it I want to do right by the gun if that makes sense. It's not all about the money but I don't want to devalue it. He said that the gun's value would be raised to about 80% of mint after restoration. I have always heard not to restore old, collectible guns - appreciate the patina and age, etc. I thought that I had agreed with that philosophy until I saw a Parker 16 ga VH that he had just finished restoring. It was BEAUTIFUL! The smith said it was in similar if not worse shape than mine when it came in.

Should I consider restoring? I think that I would get a thrill from seeing the gun in close to original condition again - the condition that my grandfather used it in. I liken it to getting an old classic car back on the road again. However, this gun is in perfect working order but cosmetically it is dull and drab. Restoration is a pricey process and I don't want to do it just to get a kick out of doing it and I certainly do NOT want to devalue the gun somehow.

I have wondered about this for a while. Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated very much. Thanks! Will