In the LOOONG run, I don't see continued appreciation for firearms. The percentage of the younger generations who have any interest guns is much is smaller than our gray-haired generation, so I believe demand will be less, and therefore there will be a softening of prices

i agree with you big d to the small gun shows i go to i do not see many youths there.... seems like they go for military stuff...this is my opionon....most youngsters shoot pumps or autos including my grand kids.... charlie

with plastic camo stocks - or it just isn't a gun :rolleyes:

The youngsters of today will become the grey hairs of tomorrow and if they have an interest in hunting and the out-of-doors they will eventually find our Parkers.

I think it will come around again. In the last two decades there has been a huge surge in interest in collecting nice doubles like Parkers, Smiths, Foxes so the wealth has been spread out but as this number diminishes the number of large collections will increase.

The first gun I shot was a Trojan at 10 years old and for many years it was the only gun I hunted with. Still have it, wanted more, and with family and obligations did not have the dough. I am now 61 at the height of my earning years, fortunatly have some disposable income and I am picking up good Parkers where I can. Better late than never. I believe that this may be a likely scenario for the next generation particularly if they get to shoot them. My son is a gen Xer and his friends see these guns, their eyes light up and they comment "that is sweet". Just MHO

Bruce, send me the names of the guys who used to own 300 Parkers and also the names of those who now only own 70. Since you have been a serious Parker student and collector for so long, you must know who these people are. I am a young guy so I can cultivate the widows of those guys and become the next Otis Odom or Bruce Kelly. On second thought, I really don't need to press the flesh with the widows. All I need to do is write the checks. That's the way some guys do it. The alternative would be to get to know these guys over a period of forty or fifty or sixty years, as friends and fellow hunting partners. Just last night, The Lovely Linda and I attended the 95th birthday party of a fellow who has a baggo Parkers and other wonderful guns and still appreciates them. I have known and hunted with and traded guns with this fellow for a bunch of years. We have several dozen friends in common, some of whom own dozens, maybe more, Parkers and other strange and unusual guns. None of those friends of the birthday guy need any more Parkers, so the birthday party was more about my friend and the food and liquor than the guns. Welcome to the good old days.

Bill, you have such a way with words that I just have to keep in mind what my mother said.

I am very grateful to those Parker collectors over the years who have helped me along and mentored me to find and acquire a handful of nice guns. I'm also grateful for military retirement pay and an opportunity to serve and achieve a modest amount of financial security through long and hard work, and well, a fair amount of luck. My military instructors always said they could teach a monkey to fly and I didn't prove them wrong. I never dreamed that military retirement pensions would be cause for resentment by those who chose different paths. I am grateful for the opportunity to have been able to spend reasonable amounts of discretionary income and savings to buy a few nice Parkers. I am so pleased for friends and acquaintances when they have means to acquire what they want and I find that I now get as much pleasure from helping friends find the right Parker as I did when I was acquiring guns. And I am grateful for the wonderful people that I have met through this collecting hobby, so much so that it is easy to overlook the few mugwumps and curmudgeons that we are saddled with.

From reading the post which you severely edited into the one that precedes this one, I can see you did not correctly interpret the theme of my anecdote about my friend's birthday party where I told of the Parker collecting and hunting friends that I have cultivated over a lifetime. I cultivated these wonderful people because of a common interest in guns and love of hunting, not to buy their Parkers.

Bruce, I am grateful to read these words from your last post. I had a gut feeling that you were a man of wisdom and intelligence. A common bond between must of us on this site is the parker shotgun. I am sure you have worked hard to build your collection, and thank you for your willingness to share it with others. Since I live in Ne. I will be trying to meet you in Omaha at phez fest. Not sure which day, will figure that out latter. Thanks again Dave