Cleaning/Unboxing question
 

New to the forum, I have been reading it for a while to gather information. Have learned a tremendous amount, thank you. Sorry if this has been addressed before and I missed it. So I have an "uncle" that I help take care of. He has been bed bound for about 8 years now after a bad automobile accident. He has been a gun collector since his youth and is now in his late 60's. I have been pulling out his guns and cleaning everything then cataloging everything with him lately so he can see them all and talk about them. Well I have made it to the safes filled with Parker Reproductions still in the original boxes, and this is where I don't want to mess up. There are around 75 still in the original boxes, along with several in presentation cases, and multiple sets of what look like extra barrels in the original boxes. My question is, should I pull these out of the original wrappings and clean/oil them or leave them as the are? And if I do need to pull them and oil them, what is your suggestion of the best product to use on them. I use G96 gun treatment on my own stuff (I collect bolt and lever guns), but didn't know if it was sufficient for these Parkers? Thanks, I've enjoyed reading and learning so far.

Wow!
You will probably get a better idea what to do once you un-box one or two. They may still have a preservative coating. The boxes, at least in the picture, don't appear to show any signs of moisture, so you may find there isn't much to do. Your uncle made some wise choices in what to put away.
Hope you and he are doing well. What an unfortunate way to spend his remaining years, but I'm sure your conversations bring him great joy.

PS. I too collected lever guns, and concentrated on 1894 rifles with factory special order features. I sold off a number of them a few years ago to fund my Parker interest. I always said, if a person wanted to get into collecting, the Winchester 1894 was the greatest opportunity to seek out because there are so many variations.

reply edgarspencer
 

Thank you, its really sad he can't get out, he would kill to walk through Tulsa for three days again. He educates me on guns everyday. We both have a pile of 94's and Marlin 39's. My collecting started by buying whatever he got in a trade that he wasn't interested in. He got all the sXs, o/u, model 12/42's and revolvers... I got my choice of the rest. This is the condition of 12-371 that is in a presentation case in the same safe as the boxes for reference.

When you say “presentation” cases and assuming that is what’s shown in your pics, are actually the standard cases made by the Italian firm Emmebi. These cases were typically furnished with all DHE and BHE Grade Parker Reproduction guns. Hopefully your “uncle” has a case for each of his Parker Repros as they will enhance their value by several hundreds of dollars — could be as much as $500/gun or maybe even more! The original cardboard shipping boxes are of value to a collector today and to future generations of collectors, as well. One might term a presentation case as a case furnished with the A-1 Special Grade Parker Reproductions -- although they were standard for the grade, as well.

Like what has already been recommended, the guns likely have a protective coating on them and will probably require very little additional going over. As your “uncle” is a seasoned gun guy, he knows to do no harm.

What a group. I hope you have the opportunity to show them all to us.

Yes, I call them all presentation cases. He said he is missing a couple cases, but has original boxes for all. The A1’s are stored in the cases original to them. He was concerned because a couple Colt pistols in the plastic have had the original protective coating turn hard and white and has faded the blue in a couple areas a little. Did nothing to the nickel guns. Thanks for the reply.

Holy Cow!

Large gun collection
 

Calib,good morning. My Father was the man who got the Parker Reproduction gun started. Perhaps I could help you sort out what your uncle has in his collection. Feel free to call me at (908) 256-6565. Looking forward to hearing from you. Richard Skeuse

I can't speak to the preservative used on hardware from the Colt factory however I have been fortunate to have wiped the cosmoline off of some legit NOS Parker Repro's. Caleb, I wouldn't be overly concerned about the factory preservative - cosmoline leaves a nice waxy coating that persists and it's easy to wipe clean. The boxes appear to be stored well.

Good luck going through them and also to your Uncle in the days ahead. Your Uncle has good foresight!