DelGrego Restoration

[J.B. Books]

I believe many people and gun shops place a premium on a restoration of a Parker was done by Larry Del Grego & Sons due to the family connection to Parker Bros and Remington (provided there is proof of their work). The value depends on the buyer. There are people on here that know better than I the history of this shop. Over the years they took many artistic liberties if you will, such as creating Skeet Guns from ordinary guns, putting BTFE's on guns that did not have them etc. In my mind the guns restored by this shop stand on their own merits as restorations and alterations. Some people like them and others don't. I do recall being told from a VERY reliable source that back in the day the recasing of receivers was done by Remington and it was a cyanide process. I was told the prep work was done in the Del Grego shop and the receivers were taken to the plant in a lunch box to be case colored, friends helping friends as they say.

[edgarspencer]

Bruce, I'm not sure anyone assumed you were criticizing DelGrego, or anyone else. When I say I do not care for someone's work, I'm expressing my opinion, and I think there is a difference.
The example you show is a nice example of cyanide colors and not what I'm used to seeing identified with DelGrego.

[John Havard]

Sometimes restoration tastefully done can be a good thing. This DH was in very poor condition. I had it redone by Bachelder and feel as though it has been given a new lease on life. Most folks wouldn't have bothered with trying to rescue and save such a three-legged dog but I did and am happy with the results.

Here's a link to the album showing the finished product:

http://parkerguns.org/forums/album.php?albumid=521

[Bruce Day]

John, a nice gun done right and with enhanced value in my opinion.

If you can keep it above water level and creek flow there in Mill Valley.

[John Havard]

Bruce, thankfully we're up on top of Strawberry Hill and well above the water (although we can see the bay from our house). Still, every frog within a hundred miles of us has now officially drowned.

[B. Dudley]

I will elaborate on my original statement and also on what others have said.

Obviously how close the restoration work is to factory finishes is the major factor in calling something a "quality restoration" and trying to assign a value to it.

In my opinion, due to DelGrego's use of such things as striped cyanide colors, white line recoil pads and beaded checkering borders puts them far away from a close to factory appearance. You can spot a Delgrego restored gun very easily. The name may carry some clout with it, but the proof is in the pudding.

[Pa SxS]

Here is an example of Turnbull's case colors. It was colored prior to me buying the gun. It's not on par with original colors, but it's not bad.

[Patrick Butler]

In the vintage market (i.e. furniture) it has most always been unquestioned that unrestored is valued above even the best of restorations. The one exception to this until the last decade was rare automobiles, but now the market has moved to placing a very high premium on unrestored cars that have just been brought back mechanically.

I have only restored two Parkers. One was the first Parker I bought, late VHE 20 that had great wood, but someone had blued the case along with the barrels! yes, and I was dumb enough to buy it. Collecting Parkers has certainly been a learning process and joining this association reading these blogs most every day I am home was as valuable as buying "the Parker Story" and a few other books on the subject.

Anyway, I really had to restore the 20, as I now know hot bluing weakens the parts-and looks like, well a 21...DelGrego did the full restoration and opened the chokes from F/F to IC/ M to use as on sporting clays. I would never change the chokes, but this is go-to gun and it is what it is. The restoration price was high and he did not do the butt-plate. It looks very good but my only criticism is that the fore end latch is just a bit proud. He offered to fix it but, I never bothered to send it back.

The second gun was a 10 gauge grade two Hammer that Brad now has that was covered with Linseed oil and I just wanted to see the nice Damascus pattern pop. I lucked out in that it had very little use and no cracks in the stock.

The rest of my small collection are unrestored Parkers and most are a bit worn, but they all tell a story. The high condition ones cost a lot, as I started on this road a bit later than most collectors.

One last comment- How do you value a documented Parker factory restoration? To me that is an original gun.

[Bruce Day]

"Not on a par with originals..."
Really ?

Top is your V re-case colored , bottom is my Quality 4 original.

I'd like to be able to point out lots of differences, but.......


As for unrestored cars that have just been brought back mechanically, those of you who know my 21 year old Suburban with 260,000 miles and some fender and rocker panel rust, that is exactly what I have done. Those of you who have put down my old beater, and you know who you are, eat your words. I have just been ahead of my time.

[Bill Murphy]

Patrick, I will address two of your situations. First, buying a blued Parker is not a mistake. Someone has to own it and you have the initiative to restore it, so there is no mistake. I own two blued Parkers and both are valuable guns and neither have been restored to color. Second point is your question about documented factory restorations. One point is that such guns are not numerous. Another point is that most of them have been used a bunch since the refinish, so value is kind of a tossup about when the wear occurred. Remington repair codes are another form of "kind of documented" refinish. Remington colors on Parker Brothers guns, accompanied by Remington repair codes, is known as a clue. In answer to your question, if the gun is in nice shape, and you can document the refinish, it would be considered almost original. One example is my DH 12 gauge mid twenties 29" barrel gun, complete with full Remington style refinish AND Remington repair codes. Of course, this rare gun would be worth a bunch in mint original condition. However, what is it worth the way it sits, almost mint with factory 29" barrels and Remington repair codes? A bunch.