CHE 20 at country farm auction
 

Saw something you don't see everyday... Original CHE 20 with factory beavertail in outstanding condition. Had the Parker letter with it and also matches up in the "Book". My friend bought it for pennies on the dollar and will have it on his table at the Ohio Gun Collector's show tomorrow. I have bad pics off of my phone if anyone thinks it might make an interesting topic.

Wish I had deeper pockets...:banghead:

Gawd... :envy:

In 1993 my wife and I were at a farm auction where a number of shotguns were in the offing. One was a nice 12 gauge CH with checkered stock cheeks. Because we had our eldest son with us who was 3 at the time, we could not stay for the entire auction. One old guy there said he estimated that the Parker would probably go for as much as $900. I think about that auction often.

I am glad for occasional miracle....
 

I just hope that it ends up in a good home.... and if the family who sold the gun got some sort of just compensation..... Best,Paul

You don't see a lot of PGCA letters attached to Parker shotguns at farm auctions. I'd like to hear a bit more about the auction and the gun.

The auction had about 8 guns with the only other one worth mentioning being an Ithaca grade 4, 20 gauge with ejectors (brought a whopping $700). The bidding started on the Parker at $300, went to $400, auctioneer asked for $450 and my friend bid $2000. Whole crowd went dead silent and the auctioneer asked 1x for $2100 and closed out the sale. I don't know who was more stunned. My friend had told me he was going to go as high as $10,000 - but that was not needed.

We were debating the originality of the beavertail when the auctioneer said that he thought there was some extra paperwork on the Parker in a folder. It just happened to be the letter and sure enough... beavertail and double triggers, as well as double beads and 30" barrels all listed in the letter.

Better than a lottery ticket IMO!!

Just goes to show ya that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

I'm sure some of our members will attend the show this weekend. I can't wait to hear feedback. I bet it sells fairly quick. He had yet to determine what he was going to ask for it when he left for the show. I took several pics with my phone in case it doesn't come back to his shop. How rare of a bird is a CHE 20 with those features? Maybe not so much rare, but at least scarce in this kind of condition and extinct for 2 grand!

Heres one ,but would love to have another !!!!!!!!!!! Whos your friend ?

Russ, Thanks for teasing us with that wonderful gun....:whistle:

Hi Dave ! Just thought I would toss it out there ! I just wish I had only $2000, in mine !:eek:

Oh my! What a beauty. I bet he marks it up to at least $2500 to sell it, eh !!:rolleyes:

The last farm auction I attended was in my home town in about 1970. Our chemistry/math/physics teacher, "Uncle Dale" had collapsed and passed away while tossing the kitchen leavings to his hogs and there was an auction to dispose of the mountains and sheds full of 'stuff' he had accumulated over the decades. He was an old rural packrat farmer in the purest sense of the word. We all absolutely loved and worshipped that old guy. There's not a single person in my high school class that doesn't have fond memories of and a story to tell about him. A good friend got his old Farmall tractor with a broken frame...."no problem", he said, "we can weld that up"...which they did. I remember being impressed when someone got what they called a "jewelry wagon", which was an old sagging steel-wheeled hay wagon loaded 3' deep with buckets and boxes of nuts, bolts, pipe fittings, electrical parts, tools.. old rusty tools mostly, and just about every kind of scrap of metal one can imagine...for $50. I couldn't believe that's all it was worth and wished that I had $50 to spend.... somehow this C-grade story trumps my paltry experience in spades. How times change, eh?.... or not.....

My luck just doesn't fall that way. The Ithaca sounds like it might have been a nice gun also.

does he still have gun and how much,thanks johnny 828-442-6166 anytime tomorrow

I ask who the friend was and never got a reply ! :corn:

He's a dealer so I doubt he would mind giving out his name. Does that break some kind of protocol here on this BBS?

I can't believe no one has reported in that attended the show. I'm alot of things, but a BS'er ain't one of them. I want someone that saw the gun to chime in. If it didn't sell, it will be back in his shop on Tuesday.

This is the same place I bought a 20 gauge DHE for $2200. Oh ye of little faith...

Whats his name ???????

What a beauty Russ!!!!!

Stopped in the shop today. The Parker sold for 17K & the Ithaca for $3500 at the Ohio Gun Collector's show last weekend. I'm glad I got the opportunity to finger it up a little before it moved on. He also sold a damascus barreled 20 gauge Parker for $2500. It is still in the shop waiting to be picked up. Seemed like a very nice upland gun for the money. Will be interesting to hear from someone that attended that show...