The 'Metal Lined' is pre-1901 and was sold as NPEs. The 1899,1905 and 1911 WRA Co. catalogs do not list factory loaded 4 gauge shells. Large bore shotshells, such as the 4 and 8, seem to show up quite frequently as handloads. I buy them when they are affordable, especially if I know that the shell was only sold empty to begin with. As Destry said, follow the auction sites. Unlike coins and stamps, there are no recognized set prices for cartridges.

None of my UMC or Rem-UMC catalogues offer loaded 4-gauge shells. They offer both 4-inch paper and 4-inch brass NPEs, for black powder only. By the Rem-UMC years they also offer No. 3, No. 2 and 1 1/2 inch NPEs for Yacht Guns. By the 1918-19 Rem-UMC catalogue they offer 4-gauge yacht shell loaded with 18 drams of black powder and 8-gauge yacht shells loaded with 11 drams of black powder. By the Remington Arms Co., Inc. 1923 catalogue they offer no Yacht Gun loaded shells larger than 8-gauge, and the largest NPEs offered are 4-inch 4-gauge (still black powder only) and 3 1/4 inch 8-gauge paper hulls (still not made for dense powder).

There are at least two eight gauge Parkers for sale at the Chantilly VA show this weekend. One is a D Grade #5 frame hammer gun with 32" barrels. The other is the gun pictured on this forum a few days ago.

18 and 11 drams?!! Wow what a cannon! ........ almost 500 grains of black in one shell in the 4 bore. Amazing.

Good stuff Dave. Thanks for all your interesting research.

Bill,
What was the asking price on the D grade, and did it sell?
Thanks
Jeff

Hopefully those two and or a couple others will be at the Baltimore show in a few weeks !

Jeff not sure of the asking price for the Grade 3 lifter.

Thanks Bill, I found out last nite.
Jeff

I may have erred and said the D eight gauge is a lifter. It is a top lever. It is in high four figures.

Destry: The gun that goes with it is priced at $50,000 and I don't care if I sell it or not.

Best Regards, George