I thought I would update this interesting thread. I think Russ Jackson knows who bought the gun. I confess. The gun turned out to be owned by Dean Sage, a famous sportsman, author, and all around multi millionaire in the late 1800's. Google him for some fantastic stories about fishing in New Brunswick and Sage's private fishing grounds there. The Albany Parker guy only owned his gun for a year before his death in 1902. The gun is wonderful, with a smear of case color on the floorplate and everything else obviously carefully field used. The stock finish is original, never refinished in 118 years. The "no engraving" on the order was apparently disregarded by the makers, because the sides of the safety button are neatly engraved in scroll, but almost invisible. Mr. Sage probably never noticed this little touch. My CH, made a few years later, adheres to the "no engraving" order, with only Parker Brothers engraved on the side of the action, no sneaky engraved parts visible. The gun was apparently made with a skeleton buttplate because the very tip of the inletting is visible at the end of the wood at the heel. The length of pull with pad is 14 1/4", so reinstalling a skeleton buttplate would make the stock very short, probably 13 1/8 or so. The old leather covered Jostam pad will stay put. There is no information on the fate of the gun after 1902, but probably Dean Sage's brother took it over. The gun shows absolutely no sign of abuse, and even the barrel blue is about 97%. It's not an easy gun to shoot because of a heavy trigger pull in the right barrel. It will probably be just right for our Friday morning Chinese Skeet events, using the left barrel only. This was quite an interesting thread, with both positive and negative comments about the gun and the price realized. I appreciate my friend Craig Larter's comment that the gun is probably worth a few thousand dollars more than the final bid. I agree with him entirely. Thanks to our members for an interesting conversation. A special "Thanks" to John Allen for outing the gunbroker ad for us. Bill Murphy
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