Quote:
Originally Posted by todd allen
Getting back to the Trojan for a minute. I have a little 20 ga. that I mentioned in an earlier thread.
I think the Trojan is an important part of the whole Parker story.
It was an effort to reach an important demographic, who was looking for a no-frills quality tool for the job at hand. These guns were made to use, and used they were. High condition examples are rare, because of the very purpose of this gun.
The Parker company managed to create a very useful, and useable double gun, which I find to be a delight in the field. My little 20 is a virtual wand on the desert quail around my house.
I think any real Parker collection should have one, if nothing else, just to illustrate the other end of the quality shotgun spectrum. It’s beautiful simplicity. Take good care of it, but use it as the tool it was intended to be.
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Thanks Todd. It's funny. When I first saw the gun on the rack I thought it looked "old and worn" I believe were the words I used to describe it. But I didn't think of that as being something bad. For the last few years I've been chasing after Smith & Wesson revolvers. We use the term "honest wear" to describe those guns that someone, usually a cop, carried every day and worked with. Scratches, dings, holster wear all give a gun "characer." Serious collectors usually don't pay such guns much attention, focusing on the more pistine examples with boxes and papers and such. Nothing wrong with that, I like them that way myself, but those guns with "character" have a lot to say for them. Sorry, getting off track there again.
Back to the Parker...but the more I looked at it, the better it looked. It just didn't have the "bright shiney new" look of a pristine gun right out of the box. It wasn't beat up or anything. It just had "character". I imagined it being carried by an man in a brown canvas hunting coat, and an old Jones style hunting hat...I haven't seen one of those in years...and he smoked a pipe...upside down when it rained.
My grandfather had a Parker 20 when I was a kid. I don't believe I ever even handled it. I just remember seeing it in the glass case at his house. He told me about it, but I never ever saw him with it that I recall. When I hunted with him, he always used his A.H. Fox Sterlingworth 12 ga. My uncle used the Parker a time or two dove and rabbit hunting. I just remember it was the prettiest thing. IIRC, my grandfather told me he bought it in 1928, and that he paid over $100.00 for it back then. He then sent it back to have auto-ejectors installed. He was quite proud of the gun. I'll have to ask my uncle about it. I'm sure he still has it.