Parker A 1 Special

[James Palmer]

How rare are these guns?

I am pretty sure the a 1 is way out of my price range but was hoping to get some guidance here.

Thanks.

[Robert Delk]

Around 85-90 guns in the record books by serial number.Estimated that there may be others in the missing books,but not many. Lots of outright fakes and upgrades around.45 to over 200 grand for original guns depending on condition,guage,provenance and originality. Good luck.

[George Lander]

Hello Jim: The Parker A-1 Special, or Grade 8, was second only to the Invincible, or Grade 9. According to The Parker Story there were only 79 total produced. There were only 3 Invincibles. The base price of the A-1 Special was $500 (a princely sum at the time) while the Invincible was priced at $1,500. Be careful that the gun you are considering is not an upgrade. Many lower grade Parkers were upgraded to A-1 Special by such artists as Pachmayer, et al. Check the Parker serialization book for the serial number.

Best Regards, George

[Brian Dudley]

Look at it the way that Ed M. put it in his book "the old reliable". He likened having to take out a small second mortgage to buy an A-1. His book stated that around 300 some as ever being made. But TPS and the parker records list that number to be much lower (79). Granted, the listing of A1 serial numbers may not be complete due to missing order and stock books from the era that A1's were made. But the missing documented number would not be substantial.

A B grade, A grade or AA grade would be much more phesable from the standpoint of availability and cost if you want a High Grade Parker. The AA grade pigion gun was the top grade hammerless Parker for many years until the A1 was first produced.

[Bruce Day]

There is a privately held list of approximately 70 real A-1 Specials. There are at least that many fake ones.

I have posted photos of several correct ones here before.

I would be surprised if any owners of A-1S's took out second mortgages. There is substantial money available today to buy high quality, so called investment grade guns and art. Several people are presently looking for suitable guns to acquire. The gun market has been better than .5% money markets. You know when the market drives a decent but not new V grade 410 to above $20,000 and military issue undistinguished Colts to that or more, a Parker A-1 S seems undervalued.

[Robert Delk]

I heard a couple of guys talking at an auction a couple of months ago and they said there were 4-5 A1's found in a collection in Europe recently.That's all I know as I did not know these guys and didn't join the conversation.Anyone else hear anything about this?

[Dean Romig]

Maybe "Slow Hand's" collection??