How about a serial number so we can look it up for you?

192 8-gauge guns in all grades were produced by Parker Bros. of which only 27 were Grade-3 and only 10 of those were Titanic Steel barreled.

The last one, ser. No. 174013 was made in 1916.

If yours cleans up nicely and if it is in otherwise nice condition it will prove to have been a very wise investment and by today's values would likely bring a figure well north of $10K..... but there are a lot of "ifs" in the equation.

dean i know there are close to 400 8 ga give or take a few...a d grade 8 ga in any kind of shape at 1300 is the bargain of the century..certainly looking forward to seeing and hear the boys discuss this gun..a really good find about like finding that needle in a haystack... charlie

I thought it was around 400 too. Can't wait to see photos

Actually, the number of 8 guage Parkers is 286.... I guess we were both wrong.

I just counted 48 in each of the 6 columns and 46 in the 7th column in the tables in the back of Vol II of The Parker Story.

The 192 number is what I took from an Excel file I have from the Serialization book.... Guess I should have consulted the "bible" first.

Can't wait to read the story of how you found the gun. What a great deal. Always good to hear about guns of that nature finding their way to an appreciative home.

The thing about collecting isn't about just finding the gun you want, and then having more cash than everyone else in the room so you are able to buy everything you want regardless of value. Collecting shotguns isn't all about "The Gun". For me, it's also about finding the right gun at the right price. Those Julia's Auctions are interesting after the fact to be able to see what someone was willing to pay for certain guns with Provenance or that are extremely scarce. I also just enjoy looking at the pictures.

For me, it's the "hunt" and quest for knowledge in order to make an informed buying decision. I don't really deer hunt any more, but if I did I wouldn't be real proud of myself if I simply ponied up the $10K or whatever to go out to a place like the K*** Ranch in Texas, and then just picked the biggest genetically engineered buck out of the herd from the corner of a corn field in an air conditioned condo. I sort of view those Julia's Auctions the same way. Someone else did all of the work assembling the fine collection. That, and then there's also the fact that I don't have the cash to play in that sandbox. LOL!

When I try to figure out totals, I add all the totals from the Grades section. These are extrapolated totals, a bit larger than the actual serial number totals in the appendix. Totalling up from the Appendix as Dean has done, will give a different total. The advantage of using the Grades section is that you can separtate the hammer from the hammerless. The problem with using the excell file is that the Appendix total was "hand picked" from order books and stock books. The excel files were created using only the stock books. The "hand picked" order book entries for eight gauges would have been excluded.

Would you all please read Jawjadawg's post and hit the "Thank You" button. That's the little "thumbs up" at the lower right corner of the post. Thank you for getting to the bottom of Parker collecting, and ferretting out what's right and what's a little less. Nothing wrong with writing a big check, but dues paying in other ways is kind of nice, too.

There's nothing wrong with hunting out guns in dank little shops (and screwing old & ignorant widows out of their husbands' guns for pennies on the dollar....taking advantage of others is fast becoming the American way). But still, there is a certain clarity that comes from buying a gun at auction and knowing you competed for it fair and square.

It would be poor of a person to brag that he has more money and therefore a better collection. Similarly, it's poor of a person to brag that he has more time to visit every gun shop in a 3 state area once a month. Some people have to work for a living....

[QUOTE=greg conomos;126909]There's nothing wrong with hunting out guns in dank little shops (and screwing old & ignorant widows out of their husbands' guns for pennies on the dollar....taking advantage of others is fast becoming the American way).

If you can screw a widow out of the rightfull value of a gun or any other item and sleep at night than your moral compass is way off course:nono::nono::nono: Do the right thing because it's the right thing to do.