BH Again, Help with Value, Restore or not?

[Dean Romig]

A lovely little BHE just the way it is. I'm glad you have made the decision to leave it as it is.
One wonders why the skeleton steel butt plate was removed...? The filled screw holes are plainly visible and the letter doesn't specify "no butt". That's not a problem in my opinion... just a curiosity.

[Bruce Day]

I like straight grip guns too, but the market sure didn't.

I have a wonderful little 1904 CHE 16ga , really a sweet gun, but it was sent back in 1937 to have the original fine damascus barrels replaced by the latest Remington fluid steel barrels. They did them right with tapered rib, reinforced lug, double Lyman ivory beads, significant contour, 1910 bolt plate and bolt, and chokes at .012 and .033 but I'd sure like to find the damascus barrels. Probably ended up in a bomb casing.

[B. Dudley]

The gun is not in bad condition as it is. Finishes are good and there are a good amount of case colors remaining. This gun should not be restored. It would take a lot of abuse and wear for this gun to get to needing a restoration.

[MarketHunter]

A quote from Mr. Day:

"What you see here in this forum is only a small part of the Parker collecting community and I suggest to you that the top players who pay large sums do not hang on this forum."

I notice he certainly spends a lot of time here, but then again so do I. We both must be the kind of low end buyers / collectors of junk guns that frequent these sorts of internet forums.


DLH

[Robert Delk]

Yeah, some people with the big bucks buy a lot of properly restored Parkers for large sums and those same people have been known to have the very best restorers redo guns and call them "original." One late collector comes to mind in regards to Parkers and another in regards to Winchesters some of which recently went to auction.A few decades go by and who is to know?

[C.O.B.]

I have restocked a couple, made straight grips out of PG on two but have never had one restored to factory original. I like the aged look of worn (or none) case color, a dent or a scratched stock brings back memories of a hunt or asks the question, what happened here? A well cared for used gun has class and experience I wouldn't want to remove that.

[Double Lab]

Eric;
I agree with Rich, Edgar and the rest, not to touch that nice gun. I would love to own a B grade 20 especially with a straight stock. In my opinion the replacement barrels are documented and don't hurt the value. I, like Rich, just love straight stocks as they are much more comfortable to carry all day, handle quicker when needed and they just look so sexy. Most times you will never recoup the cost of refinishing when you sell. The "big time" Parker collectors just put them in a safe. Guys like me, Destry, Rich and most of the members of this forum love those guns with character and original condition. We shoot them and use them as they were made to be used. To hunt with.

[Fishtail]

What a worn out topic....things must be slow in the Parker world.

I wouldn't restore that gun, it's too nice. But there are certainly some Parkers deserving of restoration. I had a GH restored...prior to that, 8 guys out of 10 would not have held it to their cheek for fear of the grunge never coming off. The 2 guys out of 10 were named Ernest T. Bass and Otis.

[Bill Murphy]

The checkwriters can do what they want, because they are only interested in the investment aspect of collecting. Regardless of the number of times I push the "Thanks" button for pictures of nice guns posted by the checkwriters, I detest the collecting themes of these people. I am only hitting the "Thanks" button because I enjoy the pictures, not because I appreciate what they are doing to the guns. I could own the guns they own, but choose not to.

[Dennis]

Forgive me as I am new to Parker shotguns but the gun in question is one of the most beautiful guns I have seen regarding Parkers. To my untrained eye it appears somebody replaced the Damascus original barrels with new V grade barrels. Maybe Mr. Brewster simply wanted a set of fluid steel barrels and didn't care about the grade. If so doesn't that make the barrels original to the gun for Mr. Brewster? I love the gun and wouldn't change a thing. I would happily use it and be proud of it.