I went and Visited with Brian and his family this afternoon. As Dean Hanson said in the first comment after Brian's pictures, it is truly a "Diamond in the rough"!
The bores are beautiful and the exterrior of the barrels can be lightly carded and polished and reblued. There are two tiny dents in one of the tubes which can easily be lifted.
The engraving needs NOTHING at all. There are no cracks in the wood and all that the wood needs is a strip and refinish with TimberLuxe and to have the checkering expertrly recut and the nasty old pad replaced with a nice period-correct pad.
It has the 'trap comb' and double ivory beads on 32" Acme Steel barrels which lead me to believe this gun was originally ordered by a dedicated trap shooter.
I think Mr Morrison has a firm grasp on where to send it for the work it needs.
My advice was to not re-case-color the frame... it would be harder to see the beautiful crisp engraving.
I hope Mr Morrison keeps us in the loop regarding what he'll be doing for his heirloom Parker.
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"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.
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