Steve welcome aboard. It sounds like you have a VH gun indicated by the Vulcan barrels and the V on the water table. It is a very common gun but well worth having. All Parker Brothers shotguns were built with quality. The higher grades have more ornamentation but don't shoot any better than your VH grade. It is hard to give any value to the gun without seeing some pretty detailed photos of the stock, barrels, markings all over etc. The Parker shotguns were made with different frame sizes depending on the gauge and the weight of the gun requested by the buyer. A 2 frame is very common and would have probably been used by a waterfowl hunter. If interested you could have the chokes measured by a competent gunsmith. The 4-2 is the weight of the unstruck barrels in pounds. Generally speaking the stock should measure around 14 1/2 inches measured from the front trigger to the middle of the butt stock. It could be 13 1/2 inches or possibly 15 inches but the first figure is common. I sure can't tell you the gun is safe to fire but a gunsmith can look at it. My guess is that the gun is safe to fire but I don't want you to rely on my word to fire it. If you do there is a company, RSTshells.com that offers shotshells specifically made for older guns. If you decide to shoot the gun I would suggest light loads for it due to its age. When you ask for value without giving any specifics it is like saying you have a 63 Dodge; how much is it worth. If your gun is totally original, unfired and still in the box it will be worth thousands of dollars. If your gun has pitted barrels, shortened stock with the butt plate missing, little bluing and a lot of stock wear in the checkering (from your letter) it may be worth a few hundred dollars. I think it is great you are getting some information for your dad. Old shotguns or any firearms that are in a family are valuable keepsakes no matter the monetary value. Before my dad passed away he had told us many times he used to own Colt Single Action Army revolvers, shotguns and some fine rifles. Unfortunately he got rid of them all before I was born. How great it would have been to have inherited something like that from him. I am sure others will give their opinions as well and most here are far more knowledgeable than I am. Good luck with the gun. It sounds like a fine old piece and a great bit of family history.
Dennis
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