I think for the most part the sharing is always done with good intentions, like this thread. We all get excited about Parkers. There is still that “thrill of the hunt” aspect of finding a unique gun that many of us enjoy and that is why there may be some resistance to this practice. Many of us have years in building relationships in the vintage gun market, which include transactions with various dealers/individuals. The internet has created an efficient market where everyone basically has access so that a first-time buyer(who may or may not be obsessed with Parkers) can bid on a gun we may have been searching for over several years. I guess that could have happen anyway in a traditional auction setting.
I am guilty of doing this myself here on the forum(with good intentions). I have posted links to auctions about certain guns, usually around condition. The “professionally restored” Parker that makes us all cringe, laugh or cry. Or sometimes a gun grade with a unique barrel steel. I have posted a link once to a late hammer gun and said something like “Someone please buy this before I do”.
I once posted a link to a Parker as a warning. It was a gun I had bought previously and returned because it had cracks in the barrels. My post was a genuine warning, then the more I thought about it I wanted to save the gun so I bid and won(and brought it back to working condition). I felt a little guilty about that since I ended up buying the gun. Though it was a process to get it right, which would make a great Parker Pages article.
I think at the end of the day we have a great community here with a lot of passion for the guns we collect. When you see something cool I understand that it may be hard to keep it to yourself and you can’t help but share it…
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