Trying to learn about originality.

[IW1978]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

I agree with you Andy. I live 45 miles from KTP. They have a wall rack that is always covered with a curtain and they just won’t open that curtain. I have no idea why some guns are curtained off. If they want to sell guns we should be able to see them… and Cabela’s, just 40 minutes up the pike from KTP nevef has any decent SXS’s anymore.





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They won’t let you look at them?

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Ira Whitten

They won’t let you look at them?

We don’t know what the curtains are hiding and the clerks won’t open them.





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[Andy]

Kittery went from an amazing place to an over priced arrogant place, sadly. I looked at a 12g VH in pretty nice condition, 28" barrels. $4700 about two years ago. I told him I thought it was priced above market value and he said I clearly didn't know what I was talking about and he promptly took the next guy in line. I buy socks there, from the canoe. That's about it. And nuts.

[IW1978]

Originally Posted by Andrew Sacco

Kittery went from an amazing place to an over priced arrogant place, sadly. I looked at a 12g VH in pretty nice condition, 28" barrels. $4700 about two years ago. I told him I thought it was priced above market value and he said I clearly didn't know what I was talking about and he promptly took the next guy in line. I buy socks there, from the canoe. That's about it. And nuts.

That’s good to know. I have not bought from there but I called about a gun there last year and whoever I spoke to seemed like I was annoying them with questions.

[B. Dudley]

That was a very nice completely original gun and was a good buy at that price.

[Stan Hillis]

Originally Posted by Brian Dudley

That was a very nice completely original gun and was a good buy at that price.

Thumbs up.

Evidently you have hands on experience with that particular gun so you could determine that the barrels' bore dims are original, Brian.

[Andy]

I vote that a future Parker meeting that I am attending someone gives a comprehensive class on how to grade originality and condition. I think that is the biggest barrier for most people.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Andrew Sacco

I vote that a future Parker meeting that I am attending someone gives a comprehensive class on how to grade originality and condition. I think that is the biggest barrier for most people.

That would be a loong class. It takes years to acquire that kind of knowledge. That knowledge comes from experience: seeing, touching, comparing, listening…
A complete two-volume set could be written on the topic of how to derermine originality but without hands-on experience a lot would be lacking.





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[Dylan Rhodes]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

That would be a loong class. It takes years to acquire that kind of knowledge. That knowledge comes from experience: seeing, touching, comparing, listening…
A complete two-volume set could be written on the topic of how to derermine originality but without hands-on experience a lot would be lacking.





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Unfortunately, I think you missed expense in your list. Getting burned a time or two will learn you some things.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

That would be a loong class. It takes years to acquire that kind of knowledge. That knowledge comes from experience: seeing, touching, comparing, listening…
A complete two-volume set could be written on the topic of how to derermine originality but without hands-on experience a lot would be lacking.
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Dean, we were at the Parker annual meeting in Binghamton 4-5 years back and the vote for "best of show" was happening. I saw 2-3 that I thought were amazing. You saw one that to me was rather normal and you said, "That's an all original untouched Parker that's what you want to see." I just saw a Parker. I asked how you knew and you said, "It takes years of touching and feeling to know and learn." That's all well and good but without someone at your side you can ASSUME you're assessing originality when in fact you're learning all the wrong stuff. If you had you picked up that gun and laid it side by side with another I thought was perfect and showed me how you knew the bluing was off, how the finish was not original, how you knew the case color had been done wrong, how the checkering was not correct I could have shaved a year off the curve. That, Dean, is invaluable so I would argue that if you have that knowledge you share it face to face rather than saying, "You gotta look at a lot of guns." I'm not naive to think you don't also have to study guides and TPS, of course you do. It's like shooting a clay target and missing it 50 times and then an instructor walks up and says, "No, you shoot that as a crosser, not a dropper" and the light bulb goes off. Hands on instruction is how physicians, craftsmen and others learn quicker at the beginning of the curve. Nobody has ever said, "Go pound a lot of nails, that's how you become a better carpenter." Somebody shows them. This organization is getting older and if people don't hand off this knowledge face to face it may die for these guns. Maybe I'm a slow learner but I don't think so. And I will take to the bank my feeling that there are a lot of "original" Parkers out there that are very much touched and the owners then wonder why they don't get the price they want back out of them. I became a fan of this group because of Don Mills. He reached out to me and offered some assistance on this forum and asked me to call him. He gave me one or two pointers about buying a Parker, small stuff that stuck. You gotta pay it forward.