AHE
 

I acquired an AHE 12ga 30" #2 frame with Acme steel barrels and ball grip from 1922.
It has some interesting features and I wanted to share with the group. I love the relief scene of the dog with a bird in it's mouth on the bottom.

Quite awesome! Great find.

No offense, but at first glance, the ducks on the right side looked like barn pigeons. What an awesome gun, I wish it were in my safe. :bowdown:
Makes you wonder is it was carried by a lefty... The scratches on the barrels look like they could be from a diamond ring.

Sweet!!.....The belly engraving is outstanding, the dead bird looks as real as any I have seen engraved on steel. That's a good one to own! SXS Ohio

yes - great gun and great dog- i wonder if that was a special order based on the owner's favorite companion

A very nice A for sure. The engraving style looks like it may have been done by Frederick Anschutz. The 1922 period is correct for his time with Parker Bros. when he was chief engraver.





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Thank you for sharing your gun.

It has many interesting features based on my observations.

The side scenes extending all the way to the frame scuplting around the axle cover screw is interesting. A good example of how all bets are off on the engraving of these high grade guns. Every one is truely one of a kind.

I suspect that the stock on this gun may have been worked over since it does not have flur-de-lis drop points on it. But instead more of a D/C type pont. But still not quite right looking. And the checkering looks recut.

DC?

i expect he is saying it resembles a grade D or C drop point behind the panel

Dave,
this is truly a unique Parker, and on these high grade guns I think there could be a number of requests that could be made. I have never seen a gun this late with the gold covered half pistol grip. I have a feeling that this gun was for a Parker family friend, A prize for a shoot, of a exhibition gun. It is way beyond standard engraving. Thank you for the photo.

Rick knows how to speak my language.

The points on the subject AH are more like those seen on British or European guns, not D or C grade points... although I know of one Parker DHE 28 gauge that has these points by special request. I don't think the owner will mind if I post this picture of his.


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Quail and ducks on the sides and what looks like a Britney to me on the bottom! This is a fine fine gun! Congrats its a beaut!

Dean, that is why i said they are similar to d or c points, but still not correct for that even. Photos are a little hard to tell. The view from the bottom shows some odd shaping around the points. Also suggesting alteration.

The dog on the bottom is a Springer, the ears are too long for a Britt. Brittney's were not brought into the USA until 1934. This gun is 1922.

Dave

You may or may not recall when I purchased my Grandfather's 99 K Special from you at SCI and few years back. With his name engraved on it. That was special finding it there!
Now I am just saying, but I think that is my dog on the belly of your gun.

Many Thanks

Brett

Is the panel on the trigger guard bow really blank, or has it been photoshopped out for some reason?

The panel is blank, and unaltered.

Is that a signature engraved just right of center towards the top of the top lever?

Signature?
 

I was looking at this
http://parkerguns.org/forums/picture...pictureid=8764

I noticed that also, but it's hard to imagine (not being a wood guy) how there's enough wood in a Fleur-De-Lis to get a drop point, unless it was taken deeper into the stock.

The seen on the trigger plate reminds of Winston Churchill's bronze of "Masters Reward". He used my friend Rich Frutchy's setter and a grouse ,that I do not recall were he got the grouse, to produce the bronze wax model. Regardless, this a is spectacular A that anyone would be proud to own.

Congratulation on your purchase and thanks for sharing.
Allan

I suspect it was moved up. See how far away the checkering border is from the point. It ahould be tighter.

I find is amusing how some net pick these beautiful guns. I mean who cares, that gun is a dream. ch

Dave, I like it Wirehair as well!

Calvin has invented a new term. Nit Picking is the undo concern for insignificant details. Net picking must, therefore, be the undo concern for insignificant details of items as seen on the internet.

Here is a 16/20, both 30", on a 1 frame from the safe. Net or nit pick away, your choice. I am rather fond of it.

But how do you undo undo concern? Delete? Or would that be undue concern?

What's on the floor plate Bruce?





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More of the same scroll.

The same scroll.

Bruce, don't you have a high grade Parker with a wood duck on the floor plate - or a duck or two?...... or is that the Turnip Farmer's gun?





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Dean
Why do you ask? I have a high condition CHE 12ga with a large duck on the floor plate
David

I've seen that one David - I had CHE Trap No. 230760 with a flying goose on the floor plate. Should never have sold it.

Lousy pictures, I know.



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Dean
I don't shoot it,42 chokes in each barrel, and have been tempted , but am going to keep it.
David

Yes. I have a little C 20 with rondel side panels and a wood duck on the bottom. I'll take it quail hunting next week in the southern Great Plains thickets. If I can scrape the red dirt off I'll take some photos. We have a small group of toxic masculinity buddies headed off for some small sanctuary towns out on the windy plains where we will use weapons of destruction to miss small birds.

Good decision. That is a very high condition Trap gun.





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I hope I do not get accused of nitpicking, but I have a question about engraving on A grades. In the 1890s, the engraving was fine, detailed, and realistic. By the 1920s it was both. For example, the dog and bird on the floorplate of this gun is very fine and realistic. However, that is not true with the engraving on the sides of the frame. Much less detail as earlier guns and the figures seem rather clownish, for lack of a better word. This is not a criticism but rather an observation. Why didn't Parker engrave the frames with the same detail and realism by the 1920s?

I advise against generalizing. There are some fine engraving examples throughout Parker production and some not so fine. Certainly the very late Runge engraved guns are some of the best. Evaluate each gun on its own.

There was a stylistic trend toward more open and larger scroll as time went on. Some prefer that to the earlier tighter scroll as you see in the A that I posted. There are many outstanding high grades in the 1920s.

Engraving trends and styles were more often set by the head of the engraving department, or chief engraver and their tenures in that position often lasted between one and two decades. The higher grades were generally engraved to the styles he set. In The Parker Story we read that often the game scenes and animals were engraved by the chief engraver while the scroll and filigree was often done by engravers of a lesser stature. That being said however, there are Parkers that are known to have been entirely done by one master.





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I consider it more of sharing detailed observations.

Again, what a dull place it would be if every reply was simply "nice gun".

And did anyone say that it wasnt???