I'm Andy and I didn't say that. That's Art, and he said that. And I agree with you Bill, it won't add value.

I guess I would have to disagree with that. The cost to get the muzzle repaired should not be alot. Most everything could be done at no cost. Knowledgeable people on here volunteer to help people measure barrels every day. People with a little guidance learn torepair and refinish wood all the time. Thousands of people clean and rejuvenate metal if they work carefully and ask for help or direction, be it an old car, an old gun or an old toaster. The secret is to take your time, be commited and work at learning. If these things were done, I will gaurantee that someome would be willing to pay more than it is worth right now. Maybe not much more but more than the pittance in actual dollars you would be out of pocket, and the knowledge you gain would be priceless.

Sorry, Andy, I meant to address Art S.

No problem! I’d make it a chicken coop gun. If I didn’t have a chicken coop I’d build one around that gun.

Honestly, I think you got good, honest feedback.

What you decide to do with that, well that's up to you.

Family Heirlooms always hold a higher value to that family.

As a person who would consider buying the gun, I'd say the comments here are spot on.

There are piles and piles of 100+ year old shotguns laying around. What makes a gun valuable outside of sentimental value, is rarity and condition. Your gun is a VH, not rare, and honestly not in good condition, thereby provoking the comments made here.

It's a family heirloom, hang it on the wall as is, and don't worry about it's "value", as IMHO, that's one I'd never sell if it was my grandfather's.

I will give "us" a final comment. Some years ago, I was at an Ohio Gun Collectors show and spied a really nice Trojan on a table at $300. It was a beauty, but the barrels had been cut to 25". I bought it and took it home. With dozens of Parkers at home to shoot, I had no idea what I was going to do with it. I sold it to a very contented buyer for a bit more than I paid for it. $300 was more than a fair price for this very clean gun with no problems other than the cut barrels.

I read everyone's opinion here then took the gun to 2 local antique shops... both valued the shotgun at least $800 and one even offered to buy it. Insurance value $1550. Not sure what they know that this site's membership don't I decided to keep it and fix all of the things you guys recommended. Thanks again for you comments.

What they know that this site does not is to take the Blue Book of gun values as accurate without consideration of condition or current market conditions. The antique dealer is not necessarily a gun dealer and has to rely on information that can be in error.

Antique shops? Seems to me if you take it to enough places farther off the category, you'll keep getting better values. Whatever makes you feel good.

A few years ago I purchased at open auction a nice signed in plate Exhibition Poster painted by Picasso for $75 as a gift for my high school daughter. A couple of years later at a sale where we were selling, she had the poster appraised at the free appraisel booth for $750. We sold almost everything we had the first day and actually attended 2 outside auctions that night to restock. We sold all that the second day and were actually asked to leave by the show director because the other dealers were experiencing zero sales and complaining that we were "ruining the show".

The truth is we made a healthy profit and their results were typical of everything I ever experienced. They tend to hold merchandise at ridicupous prices for ever, and then clear their shops out at a quiet auction somewhere, where people buy it and repeat the process.

About the time I moved here, we were in a small antique shop downtown and they had an old Parker Lifter in really dirty and below average condition. It was priced at what now would be a reasonable amount for a pristine medium grade Parker. I believe I saw it there for at least 10 years.

I hung out in that world for several years and could only be amazed at their business model. They actually all beleved in their system and kept several auctioneers in business just trading their inventory back and forth.