Value of DHE #1 frame 16 gauge made 1926

[Asa Kelley]

I am trying to get a value on this gun for the owner for insurance purposes. He does not want to sell it. This is a 1926 #1 frame 16 gauge DHE with approx. 99% original case color. Other than 3 minor rust patches the barrels are like new. There is no wear on the barrel lug to speak of. This is a double trigger straight grip(correct in book) 30 inch barrel 16 that has a leather faced pad. Please look at the pictures and give me some idea as to value. Could the pad be original to the gun?

Thanks,

Asa Kelley

[Dean Romig]

Asa, that is an extremely desirable Parker and if it were at auction with a few very interested bidders it would bring a very high price. Unfortunately this is not the economic climate in which one should be assigning value to such a fine collectible as that Parker. It is my opinion that it is worth a lot more $$ than today's "tire kicker" would offer.

[Bill Zachow]

The rust patches you described and the non-original pad would affect the value. Cleaned up with the oxidation removed from the wood, a retail dealer would price that gun between $7,000 and $10,000. The basic condition of the gun appears to be excellent in terms of blue and case colors. The size and depth of the "rust patches" would be most critical as fixing them destroys originality.

[George M. Purtill]

Show us the rust patches. Has anyone tried to brutally clean them?

[Dean Romig]

I wouldn't use anything other than Frontier pads on a fine gun such as this one.

[Kevin McCormack]

Interesting....a nearly identical gun (PG instead of straight; DHBP instead of pad) in at least as good if not better condition (e.g., near-perfect barrel blue and wood) was brought to our table at our local gun show recently for evaluation. Unfortunately, the individual's father had the chokes opened up from M & F to IC and IC, which devalued the gun since the barrel flats were marked with the original boring(s). The cc were perfect and the overall condition of the gun was superb. Untouched, I would guess the gun to be a $9-$11K on a dealer's table. Depending on how much the altered chokes bothered a prospective buyer, $7.5 - $8.5K. It certainly was a beautiful gun.

[Eric Eis]

The rust patches you described and the non-original pad would affect the value. Cleaned up with the oxidation removed from the wood, a retail dealer would price that gun between $7,000 and $10,000. The basic condition of the gun appears to be excellent in terms of blue and case colors. The size and depth of the "rust patches" would be most critical as fixing them destroys originality.

I think that is a tad low even in today's economic times, I think that those prices would be a dealer offering price.

[Chris Travinski]

I would guess an easy $10k all day long. I don't think serious collectors care much about the state of the economy. When you get right down to it, what is $10k in a high grade Parker collection? Rust or not, it's a great gun, straight stock, long barrels, 16 ga with great wood.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

I've seen pits cleared off of guns and the blue touched up to where even an expert couldn't have spotted it. The man who did the work has passed away but my guess is there's somebody else out there.

DLH

[Asa Kelley]

Thanks for your opinions. I don't have the gun in my possession to take pictures of the rust patches. All three were on one barrel within a silver dollar size area. I commented to the fellow that showed me the gun that the rust could be easily removed but would probably leave no blue.

[Joe Dreisch]

A Frontier pad with WD-40 will take the rust without harming the blue.

[Mitchell Nahra]

What are these and where would one find them? I have a 16ga DHE with a slight amount of surface rust on the bottom of the receiver that I would like to remove but do not wish to harm the case coloring. Thanks!!
Mitch

[Rich Anderson]

There was a link posted here to an auction site not long ago where a DHE 16 sold for around $8500 that wasn't as nice as this gun if my memory serves. me correctly. IMHO this is a $10K-11K gun. What a beauty, some of us wouldn't take her to the fields but that is what Parker made her for and I would "enjoy" the colors befor it was passed on to another caretaker. I hope the gun gets some field time.

[Bill Zachow]

My biggest concern, in terms of value, is the butt pad. If an original skeleton buttplate was cut off to be replaced by the black spacer and pad, I believe the value/price would drop significantly. If the gun was originally shipped with a pad, then that is a completely different story. Is there a letter on this gun?

[Bill Murphy]

There is little chance of finding out whether the pad is original or not. 1926 is too late for an order book entry. The PGCA letter wouldn't address the pad even if it were original. If the stock is long enough, there could be evidence of skeleton buttplate screws, but not likely. A 14 inch stock with skeleton butt will probably only clean up at about 13 3/8". If the stock is any longer than that now, all wood, it is unlikely that it had a skeleton butt.