We are working on that Craig and your idea is a good one.

Mills: Thanks for all your efforts I am sure you will do a great job in the future with a Parker Southern display. I think charging for tables is a dis-intensive to most collectors who want to share one or two interesting guns with fellow members. Guys like eight-bore have many interesting Parker I bet they would be willing to display if there was no costs involved. If I can be of any assistance in the future please feel free to contact me. Craig Larter

Great idea Craig. Another topic for a display could be "your favorite shooter".

Well Greg, I've decided to give up my NFL contract:) so I'll just be happy to be able to go from the golf cart to the shooting stand. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Daryl will be glad to know that I am caring for the AHE Double Trap owned by Baltimore shooter Jack R. Groves, a member of the predecessor clubs to Daryl's Loch Raven Skeet and Trap. This gun's provenance goes back farther than Jack Groves, having been originally ordered by 15 year Pennsylvania Trapshooting Association secretary and Reading PA gun dealer, George Neubling. Also in my safe is George Neubling's 34" SC Grade single trap gun. It's amazing how close these guns stay to their original homes. Both guns were found within a few miles of Baltimore. It is also amazing how well these heavily used competition Parkers have held up over time.

Gary Herman sold my dad a lot of Parkers right up till he died. My dad, not Gary; he's still alive. One particular 16ga. CHE was purported to have belonged to Dwight Eisenhower, prior to becoming president. There was no backup documentation so we took it with a grain of salt. Pete Harvey sold the old boy a BHE20 (the gun I miss the most) which belonged to a member of the Bissell family. John Bissell was one of the founding citizens of Windors CT. His grandson went into partnership with Christopher Spencer (Spencer repeating carbine) who was my great grandfather's first cousin.
My GHE 28 was bought by an up and coming New Yorker Bank Vice President, E.H.Rawls. The next entry in the A&F ledger for GH elector guns was the purchase of a GHE 20, by E.F. Hutton.
The gun I have with the most significant provenance to me is a VH 16, on a one frame, bought on his 16th birthday by my hero and mentor, Edgar Spencer Jr.

I'm familiar with Mr. Groves but had no idea he shot a Parker. Good stuff Bill, I knew you would be the motherload of provenance.

Great stuff Edgar. Provenance is the best when you can link it with relatives.

My most heavily provenanced Parker is an eight gauge ordered by and owned and shot by a Nebraska homesteader. The family is a microcosm of early American farm and homesteading life. Obviously, the family used the gun extensively for prairie waterfowling. Later in life, when eight gauges were outlawed, they sent the gun back to Parker Brothers for 10 gauge 3 1/2" 34" Vulcan Steel barrels so the gun would still be useful and legal for waterfowl. I have the family history in my files and it is truly the most interesting piece of Parker history I have ever found. The owners are not only waterfowlers, but also appear in early ATA average books as somewhat active trapshooters. Unfortunately, the original eight gauge barrels are not with the gun.

Provenance is good for everything.
 

My W300 Dodge was originally bought and always used by the Idaho Fish and Game department.
It was used to stock fish in the mountains.
Now it's used to transport Charlie Purple.