West Coast Parkers

[Robbie Payne]

As I was sitting at an outdoor patio enjoying lunch in downtown Los Angeles this fine afternoon I found myself wondering how many Parkers found there way out out here.

Would love to hear from those of you out this way...I assume you don't run across as many vintage double collectors or guns themselves as we do on the east coast?

[Mills Morrison]

I hope a bunch of them will come to Vegas in January

[charlie cleveland]

i have 2 hammer 8 ga s that came from california..both guns were shipped in a lot of 6 8 ga s all of them built the same configuration sent to san fransisco...it was a luck of fate that they got back together again after being apart for way over a hundred years...charlie...

[Dave Noreen]

Back in the day, many of the Hollywood luminaries were buying fine doubles to go with their Duesenbergs -- Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Carol Lombard, Joan Bennett, Leland Hayward, Andy Devine, Robert Stack, etc. Edwin Hedderly the editor of Western Field, and later a member of the California Game Commisssion had a number of long barrel Parker Bros. smallbores. Then there were all those long barrel 20-gauge Parker Bros. going to members of those Central Valley duck clubs, most famous being the Widgeon Duck Club. In the A.H. Fox records we see a lot of guns going to Wm. H. Hoegee Co., Inc. Los Angles and B.H. Dyas, in Hollywood. C.T. "Buck" Buckman the great California Quail hunter used a number of Parkers including the legendary 28-gauge A1-Special two barrel set. There were some very nice doubles at Kerr's Sport Shop in Beverly Hills when I checked it out as a young Navy E3 in 1969, including a long barrel Ithaca NID No. 7E 20-gauge. A few years later, when I was shooting NSSA registered skeet at Winchester West at Long Beach, a gentleman parked next to me and in the trunk of his Buick Electra 225, were four leg-of-mutton cases with his 12-, 20-, 28-gauge and .410-bore Winchester Model 21 Skeet Guns.

I think California got its share of doubles. The California Side-by-Side Society is very active and hosts some great events. I attended one in 2014 --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/2014%20CA%20Side%20by%20Side%20Championship%20and% 20Exhibition/04Apr201406_zps16a0755e.jpg

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[Paul Ehlers]

PGCA member Jim Thynne & his partner Jerry Kitto ran a very nice gun shop in west Covina Ca. called Ivory Beads.

They always had a nice selection of Parkers & other doubles in the shop along with Robert Stack's shooting vest hanging over the back of a chair.

[edgarspencer]

I bought my near new DHE20 a couple years ago from one of our San Francisco members.

[Dean Romig]

I bought two beavertail forends for 12 ga. high grade Parkers from a gun shop in So. Cal. about ten years ago. I bought them about two or three months apart. Both of them had serial numbers in the 242XXX range. I can't imagine how they ever became separated from their respective guns.






.

[Daryl Corona]

I have a 32", 16ga., VHE which was shipped in 1919 to Ellery Arms. Co., SF, Ca.

[Bill Zachow]

My hammer 8, which I no longer own, was part of a 4 gun order to California in 1892. To San Francisco, I think. In just these 2 orders, mine and Charlie's, 10 8 gauges went to Cal. 2 1/2percent of total production.

[MARK KIRCHER]

Taking my 6 frame PH 10 with 32 inch barrels - shipped to Olympia Washington in 1909 - to Rock mountain today. This west coast Beast will be grinding up some clays!!!:cheers:

[Garth Gustafson]

My 16 ga GH was shipped in April, 1897 to Tufts Lyon Arms Co at 611 S. Olive St, Los Angeles. By 2014 it had migrated to northern Illinois.

[Kevin McCormack]

As 'Researcher' said, there were a ton of long-barreled smallbore Parkers sent to the CA, particularly the LA area, in the heyday of the private duck clubs (c. 1910-1926) in and around LA, Long Beach, etc. Many years ago I bought a 32" 20 gauge DHE straight grip from Butterfield's Auction in SF that just screamed "special order duck gun" in that era, well used and slightly beat up. It had 3" chambers and full choke in both bbls. The stock and order books for the gun were both missing, and trying mightily to connect it to Hedderly and his crew, I was never able to definitely determine it to be so. I would have gladly paid for comb scraping DNA analysis to see where it went and who used it! Tons of waterfowling history there.

[todd allen]

There are two different worlds in California. There is the gun owning, hunting, competitive shooting, gun collecting California, and then there is the other one.

[Bill Kekatos]

My recently acquired 16GA VH was shipped to east coast. Anyone familiar with Wm H. Hoeger Co, Inc.? BillK

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u142/billk_album/Parker%2016GA%20SxS/IMG_2996.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u142/billk_album/Parker%2016GA%20SxS/358.jpg

[Kevin McCormack]

The letter has a typo; it is (was) the Hoegee Co., not Hoeger Co.

[Bill Kekatos]

Thank you for the heads up. Is the Co still around?
BillK

[Angel Cruz]

My 20 ga Trojan with 30 inch bbls. was shipped to Lewald and Schlueter in Fresno, Ca. on July 29, 1918.

[edgarspencer]

The letter has a typo.
No Way :eek:

[Dave Noreen]

Catalogue No. 12, 1907 --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Wm.%20H.%20Hoegee%20Co.%20Inc.%20Catalogue%20No.%2 012%201907%20cover_zpsi3gktsfb.jpeg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Wm.%20H.%20Hoegee%20Co.%20Inc.%20Catalogue%20No.%2 012%20pg%204_zpsswlizoif.jpeg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Wm.%20H.%20Hoegee%20Co.%20Inc.%20Catalogue%20No.%2 012%20pg%205_zpsljt4bnuk.jpeg

[Jim Pasman]

This 1906 VH 20ga letters to LA

[charlie cleveland]

mighty fine guns...charlie

[Rich Anderson]

The Hollywood gun an embellished GHE 16 two bbl set was sold through Alex Kerr's of Beverly Hills and I have a BHE 32inch 3inch chambered 20ga that was ordered by a gentleman from LA.

[Dennis E. Jones]

In Central Oregon where I live you seldom see Parkers as this was logging country most people just did make a living with little to spare for something as expensive as a Parker. On the other hand Ithaca's are fairly common and Remington's show up now and then. That said I've had eight Parker's but gave two of them to my oldest daughter so I guess I still have six on hand. Since I started buying double rifles the purchase of smooth bores has languished but I still love them.

[Jean Swanson]

While copying the Parker records some years ago in Ilion, it was noted that there were many, many orders from Simmons Hardware in Saint Louis , MO---gate way to the west-- that covered several pages per order or hundreds of guns per order during the 1880,s and forward. I am sure that many were used as utility guns, but for sure there were those that survived in good shape and are still in collections/ownership in the west.

[Bruce Day]

Here's one. Sixteen gauge G.

[Jon Weber]

I bought a VHE 410 a few years back owned first by a real estate executive whose son told me was likely purchased at Kerr's. It's in Oregon now.

[Garth Gustafson]

As mentioned, my GH was shipped to Tufts-Lyons Arms Co on April 28, 1897 and was part of a large Parker order. Here is a picture of their storefront on S. Olive St probably taken in the late 20's or early 30's. These old photos are fascinating.

[todd allen]

I have a 2 bbl set 20 ga. DHE that was shipped to H. C. Golcher Co, San Francisco CA. in 1941.
More on that later, stay tuned.