The DHE is still on display in the mezzanine between the ground floor hunting and shooting department and the second floor fishing department in Freeport, Maine. It is mounted vertically in a glass or plexi-glass case. That DHE has a "sinestral" stock because of the loss of vision in the right eye that LL suffered later in life.
I asked the gun department manager if I could examine it and do a photo layout and story on the gun for Parker Pages and he said "Yes, please do."
When I came back with my photography stuff about a month later I was told by the manager of advertising and publicity "Absolutely not!"
I've been treated poorly by Bean's before that so it wasn't a huge surprise.... just a big slap in the face.
The LL Bean Parker that was sold several years ago went through JD Julia Auctions and it was a CHE.
.
__________________
"I'm a Setter man.
Not because I think they're better than the other breeds,
but because I'm a romantic - stuck on tradition - and to me, a Setter just "belongs" in the grouse picture."
George King, "That's Ruff", 2010 - a timeless classic.
|