A member for a few years, but my first post
 

Hello, I've been a member for a few years now, but this is my first real post. About three or four years ago , I became caretaker to a very special family heirloom. This heirloom happens to be a parker grade 7 aahe which belonged to a famous ,yet distant relative named James J. Jeffries. He was an avid sportsman, but was and is known for his boxing career. That being said, he was the heavyweight champion of the world from 1899 to 1905, retiring undefeated ,only to come out of retirement in 1910 to fight jack Johnson in what was billed "the fight of the century". His nicknames were the boilermaker and the great white hope. There's plenty to be read about him on the Internet so I won't waste your time with those details.
His relation to me would be great great great uncle and many things of importance to to him remain in my family. .. This special parker being one of them. I'll post a few pictures for now and follow up with some more details later.
I just wanted to share a little bit about his and this guns history. I love this forum, it is an amazing source of information. Thank you for all your contributions.

Sincerely, Clint Dunn

Welcome Clint. What a great first post and introduction. To own any family Parker would be a wonderful honor. To own such a fine cased grade 7 so rich with history is unimaginable.
Congratulations and thank you for sharing.

Welcome Clint! What a special Parker

Welcome Clint - how fortunate you are for that wonderful heirloom Parker to be in your care.





.

Beautiful gun and it appears to have been enjoyed by your relatives. I hope you shoot it and maybe bring it to a PGCA event so we have an opportunity to see it. Thanks

you sir have a fine parker to take care of..and the history on this gun and the fellow who had it is great...thank you for shareing some of that history... charlie

Wonderful Clint great history and great gun.

Decided to Google James Jeffries. Plenty of great history on him. What's struck me was some of his fights went 20 rounds. This was in the day when they didn't have indoor airconditioned rings. Wonderful history. I hope he spent many years hunting with this gun. Any chance you have some family hunting pictures?

Thank you for sharing not only a family treasure, but a story that can be linked through generations. Awesome...... simply awesome!!!

Great gun! Great story!

James Jeffries
 

Clint..
In a NRA publication, titled NRA GUN COLLECTING REVIEW, Volume 1, 1983, an article by Michael McIntosh on "The Value of A Parker Gun" he pictures an AHE purchased by boxing champion James J. Jeffries as a gift for his sparing partner C. William Kolb. The gold medallion in the grip cap reads "Jas. J. Jeffries to C. William Kolb--1915"
Of note, it is my understand the NRA publication was a one-off issue and is now a collector piece itself.

It just keeps getting better!





.

Twenty rounds indeed, I can't imagine the type of stamina needed for that. The fight where he lost his championship was scheduled for forty-five rounds ,but was stopped in the fifteenth.
As for family hunting pictures, I have seen some,but will have to do some digging. I will post some if I find some. Thanks for your input!

Clint

Thank you for your post Bill, I have heard of that gun, but have never seen the article...I'll be sure to research it. There has been talk in my family that there is another presentation gun around (in the family) that was presented to Jim Jeffries from either Ithaca or parker. From what I've been told, it's a real showstopper. I'll keep digging for more info on that one.

Clint ,this is a great thread ...i've been up to my eyes and just discovered ,keep it coming !

As a shameless chauvinist and former boxer, I can't help myself from sneaking in a Nova Scotia connection with Johnson. Langford was popular as much as Johnson was reviled. From Wikipedia:

"Samuel "Sam" E. Langford (March 4, 1883 – January 12, 1956) was a Black Canadian boxing standout of the early part of the 20th century. Called the "Greatest Fighter Nobody Knows," by ESPN, many boxing historians consider Langford to be one of, if not the greatest fighter of all time. Originally from Weymouth Falls, a small community in Nova Scotia, Canada. He was known as "The Boston Bonecrusher," "The Boston Terror," and his most infamous nickname, "The Boston Tar Baby." Langford stood 5 ft 7 1⁄2 in (1.71 m) and weighed 185 lb (84 kg) in his prime. He fought from lightweight to heavyweight and defeated many world champions and legends of the time in each weight class. Considered a devastating puncher even at heavyweight, Langford was rated #2 by The Ring on their list of "100 greatest punchers of all time." One boxing historian described Langford as "...experienced as a heavyweight James Toney with the punching power of Mike Tyson."

"He was denied a shot at many World Championships due to the color bar and by the refusal of Jack Johnson, the first African-American World Heavyweight Champion, to fight him. Langford was the World Colored Heavyweight Champion, a title vacated by Johnson after he won the World Championship, a record five times. Many boxing aficionados consider Langford to be the greatest boxer not to win a world title. BoxRec ranks him as the 4th greatest heavyweight of all-time, the 9th greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all-time and the greatest Canadian boxer of all-time."

Welcome aboard, great to have you with us!

How fortunate you are. some of can only dream of owning such a gun.

How fortunate you are. Some of can only dream of owning such a gun.

IT is great that an heirloom can keep a family connected, especially when it is a great Parker like this one, You my friend are indeed fortunate to be its caretaker, Gary

Clint do you have any hunting stories about Mr. Jeffries?