And another risk is the possibility of a result that may be far removed in appearance from what we know original Parker case colors looked like.





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This may be nit-picking, but don't we really know what original colors look like after 100 or so years? Do we really know what they looked like when built? Isn't there some possibility they may have faded over 100 years?

Sure they have faded over time.That is what you want to see.Normal fading or patina,not bright vivid new colors.The purpose of grading guns by the amount of case color remaining on them is to give an indication of how much the gun has been used and handled.In over 40 years of handling Parkers,I can only remember 3 that were original 100%coverage case color guns.They were effectively museum pieces that had been put up since they were built.

Yes, we know what original case colors look like. There are collections in private hands containing Parkers in near 100% original condition - I've seen a good number of them. I had one in fact, a sixteen-gauge Grade-1 T/A Hammer gun in about 99+% original condition. It is a benchmark gun and there are a good number of others, as I said, in private collections.

Yes, we know how they looked when they left Parker Bros. and Remington Arms too.






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Dean - I don't disagree that there are original unmolested guns out there. What I am saying is that we only know what those guns look like now. We don't know if they looked that way when they came out of the factory 100 years ago

Grey receivers can be artificially created with a little muriatic acid and a damp basement expedites the process. It also removes rust, oh sorry, patina as a side benefit. Brians right about wearing through case with the the possible exception of the AH pictured in the most recent DGJ