I've always wondered how they came up with the "fake" czars gun as there were no pictures to go by and the description in Johnson's book was rather vague. Nice gun at any rate.Ok, a really nice gun.

Bill, this is the part of your statement I was commenting on - nothing more.

Now, will someone please e-mail the court transcripts on the "Not the Czar's Parker" to Bill please?

Where would you find "said" transcrips?

They are a matter of public record. All one needs to do is find which court the trial was held in, go there in person or have your 'agent' go for you and ask for a copy of all the transcripts.

Provenance Question
 

Parker Pages recieved a letter relative to the Hemingway photo on the last cover, inquiring if PGCA were trying to establish Hemingway's ownership of a Parker. In my own opinion a photograph of a person holding a Parker establishes nothing other than that the person held a Parker for 1/50 of a second.

Another and tougher question; does the appearance of a name in a Parker order book establish possession or use of the ordered Parker? All of Parker Bros gun business was completed before the GCA's of 1934,1938 and 1968. It was perfectly legitimate for a person with a letterhead and commercial credit to order a Parker at wholesale for a friend or neighbor.

We also know, from the Newcomb scrapbooks, that O R Dickey and others passed Parkers from one competitor to another for use in tournaments. Should the same gun have won several tournaments in the hands of several shooters, which dominates; gun or shooter?

Your opinions please

Best, Austin

Dean, some of our members went the extra yard and got copies of the Cail Galazan testimony years ago for their research collections. I understand why TPS authors only touched on the whole story. Lucky you, Dave, the case was probably tried in CT.

Hmmm...Might be worth a look see

Hemingway holding a VH 12 bore?
 

Great cover choice for PP issue, Austin. From that era, and other fotos of the late Ernest H., this one shows his face rather full and florid. He abused alcohol and apparently women, but kept his solid work ethic for writing for a long time. I have read that his two preferred hunting "escopetas" were a Browning O/U and a Model 12, both 12 gauges with a single sight plane. His one weak eye may have led to his choice in shotguns.

His defective vision kept him from serving in the "Big Red One" in WW1, so he served with distinction in the Red Cross Ambulance Corps, decorated by the Italian Gov't for pulling two of their soldiers out from German mortar fire. He most likely died with some of the Krupp-steel still in his legs.

I was at Camp LeJeune that summer of 1961- a Col. came into the duty hut and told us that "The great writer, Ernest Hemingway, has died, a gunshot wound from cleaning a shotgun at his home in Idaho" Only later did we find out that it was a SIGSW- what a loss.

If this Parker was one of his guns, would any of his surviving family have it, or a record of his ownership?

Hope to see you at the MI UP shoot in June- I plan to take a side trip over to visit Puglisi's in Duluth--:bigbye:

Bill : There was no dirt, no admissions in the transcript. The parties settled their differences out of court. There was only a short hearing without any presentation of evidence. There was no trial.

Francis: The Hemingway shotgun was reported to have been destroyed to deter the morbid momento seekers . A couple small fragments remain.

You said it like it's a bad thing? :rotf: