Dave ; This one is going to stay in Pa.at least for a while ,I planned on carrying it for Pheasants and Grouse this season ,so far I haven't taken it ,I have been carrying that little PH 20 and I am shooting it so well ,I hate to change ! Just not enough days to use them all !:)

Dean; I wish I had access to the higher grades ,to really sit down with a glass and really examine them ,the high grades that were for sale at the Vintagers ,the only place ,I have actually seen one in person ,you sort of browse by and can't really study them,and sorry to say the highest grade in my small collection is the C !

Russ, if you never get a higher grade than that little CHE you may still have attained nirvana with that one.

The Engraving has always fascinated me as well - so I'll throw this out as an idea for discussion... We have a lot of Sub-forums here - and I don't see why a "Parker Engraving" forum wouldn't fit?

For that, if some folks have Parkers of any Grade - they can post pictures of the engraving there? As well - if folks have higher end guns and don't want to post them under their own name - they can send them to one of us privately and have us post them as "reference"?

My view is there are some pretty spectacular Parkers of all grades out there amongst the Forum folks with some wonderfully executed engraving that we can all learn from..? But - in the "General" forum, they tend to get buried pretty quickly. And in a topic specific forum - thread titles could be posted such as:

Parker CH Engraving
or
Parker DHE Engraving
or.. Well - you get the idea... As folks flip through that forum, they can find their grade - era - and contribute to the knowledge base...

Anyway - just thinking out loud...??

John

John; It sounds like more work for you ,but if you are up to it ,I think it is a great idea !!!! Hopefully guns that have been tucked away ,will resurface and maybe even the folks that own them will get them out and enjoy them again as they had when they were new to them ! Now ; Lets see , I will need a more comfortable chair at my computer for those long winter nights ............:corn:

You can put these D-Grade dogs in there...

Hi Russ..!!

The only extra work is at the very beginning as we figure out the format? In other words - and again - thinking out loud....

The way I envision it is that folks can post well done pictures of the engraving of their Parkers. They can also post what they know, think, etc. The rest of us can add what we think is of interest/value or of significance.

So - from my end - I just said a mouthful - as I need to prepare a couple of "for example" threads which entail:

1) Setting up that dedicated forum;

2) Be certain that the photo abilities of my software are up to the task (resizing, album structures, etc...)

3) Author an "about this forum" document - the Engraving Forum would be about the Engraving/engravers and NOT a place to critique whether a Parkers receiver Case Coloring is original vs. restored - or critique the Parker itself. It's about the engraving...

4) Have folks contribute anonymously and allow a channel for that. For example, I believe there are few Parker collectors who want to contribute to the knowledge base anonymously - BUT - want to remain anonymous. And that's OK - as "we" - the community - are only able to gain from their selfless sharing of their pieces, so we have to be careful about those discussions/comments.

In all of this - my work is trivial compared to the potential benefits - and all I'd ask is that those who would enjoy a forum such as that - just help me out with setting up both the content (by posting pictures and adding to the discussion) - as well as helping new folks understand the "ground rules" where it's not a "critique" forum, but rather a research forum, if you know what I mean?

As I'm writing this post, before posting it - I just noticed Dave's post - Yep sort of exactly like that - THANKS DAVE!!!

Best to you Russ - and my thanks for your consistent support and kind words!

John

Russ' gun is one of the more scary Parkers I have examined. I sure would not have wanted to miss it at the Vintagers and didn't. What a shotgun.

Thanks Bill,Russ brought his gun to the tent as Danny and I decided to finally go walk the dealers tables and we missed it...:banghead:

Dave; I am just getting back on , I plan to attend next year ,I'll drag her along again ,if we get a chance we will pass her around and all shoot a bit !