I'm sure the pictures will come pretty soon.

Charlie
So good to draw you out.
The pictures for TPS came from me.
I still have my file. I re-discovered it today.

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Bill,
Don't hold your breath wait'n for those "Not the Czar's Gun" Parker photos..:whistle:

Best, CSL
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This gun has nothing to do with the Col. Geo V. Tarnovski order of March 5th 1914. It is the first 16 gauge A-1. Its order was placed May 18th 1907.It has alot of similarities to the gun pictured in the first post. Thank Mr. Bishop for asking his question which caused this post.

Just got back from SoDak. I don't understand what all the hoopla is about. We displayed the gun and case discussed at the NRA Convention last May, about 80,000 people saw it , the picture of Tsar Nicolas and and the DGJ article in which it was featured. The article will answer all questions here far better than I could. The DGJ article contains far better photos than I could ever take, such is the artistry of Bill Headrick.

Whether it will be at the NRA Convention in Houston, I can't say. It depends.

For those who were there, the gun was right behind us. The fellows behind us are looking at it.

Thanks for those pictures Jim. 143556 has quite a story of its own.

Jim, that is one awesome gun you have! I have been fortunate to see it displayed, I love that deep engraving, Correct me if I am wrong but didn't someone close to you buy the gun new, some of the guys would love to hear about that! Gary

Jimmy is that the gun that was at the annual meeting when we were showing 16 gauges? I remember when I saw it, my 16 ga skeet gun didn't have a chance :) What beautiful gun

The article on "Not the Czar's Gun" is in Double Gun Journal Volume 12 issue 4 by Bill Headrick. Jim Hall, has your gun been featured in a Parker Pages or Double Gun Journal article? I would like to read about it.

I believe there was a DGJ story about Jim's gun.

OK; this ping-ponging thread has begun to annoy me, so I must make the following observations"

Jim Hall's breathtaking A-1 Special has to be seen in hand to be truly appreciated; the only thing as good as the gun in hand is the wonderfully moving presentation Jim gave on the gun's history at one of our PGCA Annual Meetings long past.

The monotonous struggle in this thread for monikers selected for the faked-up gun supposedly mimicing the original gun intended for Nicholas has given me new impetus to select my own: I will henceforth refer to this recreation as the "CzaRepro."

The CzaRepro is a strange and mesmerizing gun; the feeling one gets examining it is not unlike trying on the London Fog raincoat of the reporter who broke the Lindberg kidnapping case (the faces of the eagles on the custom case gave me nightmares for days); Examining the real gun afterwards is understandably anticlimactic and underwhelming;

You can be absolutely sure that the estimated 80,000 people who viewed the gun at the NRA convention had positively no idea what all the 'hoopla' was about either, only that they were "knee deep in it."

If the CzaRepro surfaces again at the NRA Convention in Houston, there should be a simple voluntary questionnaire sheet the observers can fill out and drop in a ballot box with such questions as, "Does this look like the real Czar/Tsar 's gun to you?" If not, would you say that it appears (a) more ornate? (b) less ornate? " Also, "If you saw this gun come up at auction, how high would you bid up on it? (a) Very high (b) High (c) Medium (d) Low (e) Very low, or (f) Would not bid at all?"

Lastly and even more intriguing than this Maltese-Falconesque conundrum (is it possible that Peter Johnson actually saw the REAL one and described it accurately in his book, from whence it was faithfully 'reproed'???), look closely at the last May NRA Convention photo - the man standing on the extreme left examing the CzaRepro smacks mightily of a former Czar/Tsar himself - or is it only an apparition, like the second gunman on the grassy knoll??

Thank you, Kevin, for your level headed assessment of the Czar's gun situation. By the way, where is the real Czar's gun? Someone at a past Southern Side by Side told me who had bought it from Jack, but I was never able to confirm that. Who has it now?

The flipfloping does not bother me, but some of the posters are a tad bit vexing.

For its 100th birthday Winter Issue 2007.

Jim, I still have the color slide study series I did on your gun; I couldn't bear to throw them out, it is so beautiful.

Bill, you heard what I heard on the post-Jack P. owner, but I'm sure they "prefer to remain anonymous", per some of our upper-echelon Parkeratti.

ch, some of our posters are in desperate need of a spell-check app on their computers.

The San Francisco gun was on the list as a Whit 1 this was a very nice gun as redone early probably by Remington through the DelGrego shop. I am looking at another of the Whit 1 guns and will post it if this gun comes through.

Spell check, well I'm not embarresed I can't spell. Spell check may make you appear brilliant but sooner or later they are going to figure you out. So I am what am vocaberaly impared. But hey, I'm strong to the finish cause I eat my spinich.

Jim Hall, thanks for the DGJ reference.

:)Then it was L C Smith built for the Czar??

I have every reason to believe I also own not one, but several Not The Czar's guns. A few are not the Czars Hammer guns, and I even have a bunch of not the Czar's Winchesters. I Don't know if any of my Parker not the Czar's guns have ever left the United States, but I do know several went to South Carolina this fall.
Seriously, I remember when the Galazan gun was done, it was pretty upsetting to a lot of people in the gun community, not the least of whom was the owner of it, who was duped out of a lot of money. A very good friend was dragged into court to testify and he wasn't any too pleased as I recall. Yes, it was, and is a very beautiful gun, created by a very talented individual, but it's hard to forget his original motivation.

Oh well, the Czar is dead and I don't feel too good myself.

I have "Not Bo Woop" but that is for another thread.

Are we sure that the maker of the gun had sinister motivation? The more important question is "Did the purchaser of the gun really think it was the Czar's gun?". Apparently, the judge in the court case thought that the purchaser was aware the gun was a fake. Can we get some reference to the court case?

All foolishness aside, the Czars gun was only second to the most sought after of the Parkers, it was probably #2 after the Invincibles. There was, and still is a mistique surrounding an American gun of finest quality built for one of the richest men in the world. He had his choice of many European guns as well as English guns, and certainly the National Museum has many of those guns that belonged to him. But the order was for the Czar and so it remains one of the "now American" treasures.
This gun was talked about in gun circles as long as I remeber, and I am 70 and started with Parker Shotguns at age 15. It is indeed a treasure, and it is the (ONLY) Czars Parker.

There really was an American shotgun made for Czar Nikki II but it wasn't a Parker Bros --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...CzarN-II01.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...CzarN-II02.jpg

If memory serves, the gun was ordered as a gift for the Czar. You wonder if the Czar himself was ever even aware it existed.

DLH

When it comes to A-1 Specials for famous folk, I'd rather have the Clark Gable A-1 or perhaps the long barrel 16- or 20-gauges made for Edwin Hedderly.

To each his own! But the fact remains if I owned the Czars Parker, I would not argue, and it would dissapear once again. By the way it is hidden well in California!

That's my point - he never even knew it existed. So the connection to him is is as tenuous as that of my Lincoln Gun. We have no indication at all the Czar wanted or had any awareness of the gun.

It's also reasonable to surmise that, had the Czar been presented with the Parker, he would have smiled thinly, murmured a few pleasantries, then had his gun keeper toss it in the corner with the rest of his fancy guns and never laid eyes on it again. In the back of his mind he would have made some vague note that he had had his royal rear end kissed a little by whomever had given him the gun. End of story.

My guess is the Czar preferred gifts of real substance - chests of gold, or the occasional small country.

My disappointment at the moment is I have yet to receive a single PM'd offer on Lincoln's Gun. Imagine - a Parker intended as a gift for one of America's most revered presidents. I guess this BB is not populated by the heavy hitters of the Parker world. Or maybe I need to get yet another Parker to be given to Obama?

:banghead:

The gun was ordered by the Czar, or so it was published in the Meriden newspaper.
Is there provinence on the Lincoln gun? I would be interested.

Maybe somebody will post the newspaper article. It's been ages since I read it so my memory may be faulty.

DLH

Bill, In your question of the court records. They are as follows; Civil No. H-85-23, brought before The Hon. M. Joseph Blumenfeld, Senior U.S.D.J. February 11, 1985 at the Federal building in Hartford Connecticut. The case was filed April, 8 1985 by the Clerk in Hartford. Gary

Gary? Did Gary Hermann play a part in this or should I be asking?

Robert I couldn't say, The fake gun came out of the Parker factory as a AAHE and was sold to a private detective in Salt Lake City in the early 1900's. A fellow named C.A. Sage, hence the name "The Sage Gun"

Robert if memory serves me gary Herman was paid 5,000 to be a mediator, I could be wrong.

Mr. Herman was not an involved principal. Maybe someone will mention the name of the principals. Tony Galazan is well known to have built the gun. I know the other person, but I'll wait for someone else to mention his name.

Let the deceased rest. Most has done something imperfect.

I agree, let it rest. Bill, I sent you a PM check it out. Gary

In addition to being displayed and viewed by more than 80 thousand people at a recent convention. The "Not the Czar's Gun" also enjoyed celebrity status again in June of this year when it appeared in the issue of a popular Sporting Magazine as a full page photo prop for a rather strange story about three Idaho hunters. In this story, two of the Idaho hunters were portrayed as felonious thieves willing to do just about anything to get their hands on a special Parker A-1...

In Summary: ... The story begins with the first Idaho hunter described as a man who fakes his own death in a hunting/drowning accident to collect $500,000 from an insurance fraud scheme. A second elderly Idaho hunter who owns a nice high grade A-1 Parker dies of cancer. And a third Idaho hunter climbs through a window of the recently deceased hunters home in a late night burglary to obtain the high grade A-1 Parker he claims his old friend wanted him to have after his death. The purpose of the late night covert acquisition, to abscond with the A-1 Parker before the deceased mans relatives arrive from another state to claim his belongings. The first Idaho hunter, while in the process of faking his death for the insurance money and preparing to leave town, also decides to steal the A-1 Parker from the third Idaho hunter who had already taken the gun from the second deceased hunters home just a few months before..... Fast---forward, after about two years go by, the third Idaho hunter eventually tracks down the first Idaho hunter and his wife who are now on the run hiding near the mexican border with the stolen A-1 Parker and hunting Quail. After a confrontation and threats to report the first Idaho hunter to the proper authorities for his faked death insurance scam, the Parker is soon returned to the third Idaho hunter who had originally liberated it from the second deceased hunters home in the first place... The last words in the story come from a personal note that was in the shipping box with the Parker A-1 upon it's return, a quote that reads: "And they say there's no honor among thieves"... The End...

What A Story. --- Obviously NOT a literary work worthy of this years Pulitzer Prize for distinguished fiction by an American author... It Will Be Interesting To See Where Photos Of The Infamous Gold Embellished "Not the Czar's Gun" Show Up Next...

CSL
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Chris, that story is somewhat reminiscent of the story of Maj. General Paul Cooper's stolen A1-S - the twist is that his story is non-fiction.