Well, Dean, there was this story, started in a newspaper article in a Meriden newspaper before the war...........Oh, heck, it's to much information for you to absorb. I assume you are new to this Parker business. Joking of course.

Okay Bill, I'll take the bait... I know about The Romanof Czar's Parker no. 168304 but I wasn't aware of the colonel who ordered it or the Czar himself ever shopping at Kerr's. Further, I wasn't aware 168304 was made as a two-barrel set, or maybe I had forgotten. Maybe someone could fill us in on the details.

Maybe it was the New York gentleman who had the gun stashed away for so many decades was the one who shopped at Kerr's?



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A man can learn a lot from this post.

I'm also curious as to the Czar/Kerr connection.

The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution across the territory of the Russian Empire,
commencing with the abolition of the monarchy in 1917 and concluding in 1922 with the Bolshevik establishment of the Soviet Union.

Ok, it's going to be difficult to prove that the Czar actually shopped there which suggests a possible whimsical exaggeration on my part that the plastic handled Naugahyde two barreled "Kerr's" case of which I am the current caretaker, could ever have belonged to Czar Nickolas.

I feel like Orson Wells.

I still believe the whole Czar's Parker business was in Wilber Parker's imagination to market an A1-Special that was lingering in stock.

What a great thread. We need more like this one!

I recently found out that Don passed away. Soon after Donna passed away also. Bill Skinner "his shooting partner for years" said the boys had kept it secret for some reason or another, and he said it had been over a year. I d miss Don he was Mr. 21.

If so, it was a great strategy, don't you think?

I still have a thick 3 ring binder with my Don Criswell mailings. I missed a bunch of good guns over the years.

One of the first doubles I bought was in Vegas from Don. It was a pleasure to do business with him.

When Don came into my store, I sat down and listened. Don was certainly one of the greats. he was the king of the 21 Winchester, but loved the Parkrs as well. He showed me several of the very high grade upgrades, and then at the Las vegas show showed me a Monogram L C Smith and then showed me another. He said look at rhe serial numbers, and I was surprised to see the same serial numbers on both guns, and the engraving and wood were absolutely identical. Another Don Criswell lesson. Always look before you leap.

I have shot pigeons with Don quite a bit, back in the day. We had a few Parker vs Winchester match-ups, with some side bets, of course.
In his later years he went to a Beretta auto loader and a release trigger, with which he punched into Master Class in sporting clays.
Don was a class act, and the real deal when it came to shooting.

Funny Story; John Milius was telling a group of us about Kerrs and how it started. Alex was a gun guy, and wanted to start a sporting goods store. He was the Heir of Kerr Glass( like Ball Glass ) everyone used his jars etc. So he did indeed open the store, and his siblings thought nothing of it. They just paid the lights and heat etc. for years, until they found out that they not only owned the property, but Alex had never paid a cent for rent electricity etc. He was not in love with the rest of the family so he had the last laugh. Then he closed!