Question about 2 1930 Parkers

[Autumn Daze]

Taking good quality photos of guns is not an easy task. One the best ways I have been taught is to take the guns outside on a cloudy day and shoot with no flash.

If you have the luxury of time here, and you are sure you wish to sell those two 12 gauge Parkers, Dave's advice is "right spot on"--even though I don't normally buy guns from the various sites on the Internet, a good perusal of them all is an education-and I think you'll see the best fotos show All the details available.

I don't know Dave personally, but a few months ago he was looking for some firing pins, and as we both have a machinist background, it was a pleasure to correspond with someone that accurate. He also noticed the Dog's head buttplate on your Trojan (something I missed) which is NOT factory- they use a plain black plate normally with vertical 'hashed marked" lines, and no grip cap on their economy grade Parker-

Don't be discouraged- as someone said about "small details", they are most important to the serious collectors and shooters of "America's Finest Shotgun"

[Robert Rzepiela]

I think estimate above are high. The Trojan looks like it left factory. Problem is it was not Parker factory. I'd be suprised if you break 1200 on Trojan. After all it is refinished 12ga Trojan.

Robert, your reply raises a question. The two 12 ga. Trojans I had owned were "users": hunting guns with honest "wear and tear". Just for my learning curve here- let's take a Trojan- mfg. in Meriden 12 gauge DT 30" Mod & Full, and bless it with the good fortune that befell the man who bought Arthur Middleton's NJ house in the 1930's and found the "unfired" 16 Invincible-a almost "virgin" Parker- and set a resale value for today's market- and compare that to the same basics in our trojan, but restored, either by Turnbull or Delgrego, with the attendant paperwork to verify same, and again, set a current value.

I recall reading in Jack O'Connors' "The Shotgun Book" that he described many 12 Trojan and VH parkers as evidencing heavy wear- and a comment along these lines: "The fellow who bought a high grade gun usually took very good care of it"-- possibly so--

[Bill Murphy]

The Remington era dog's head buttplate on the Trojan suggests that it was either redone at Del Grego's or sent back to Remington for work. It is a rare buttplate and not one any other gunsmith would have access to. The confusing aspect of this opinion is that the gun is a pretty late Trojan and shouldn't have needed refinishing. We could be mistaken about the Trojan's provenance and truly would need better pictures. A Remington refinish would be identified by repair codes stamped on the barrel flats, only visible when the gun is disassembled into its three components. A Remington manufactured (which this is) or Remington refinished Trojan could possibly been sent out with the dog's head buttplate. However, I have seen Trojans as late as 240,000 serial number range with the standard Trojan buttplate.

[Robert Rzepiela]

Look on the Rock Island Auction websites, Lot #: 3544. Trojan 20ga with similar finish - "professionally refinished". I was not there but from what I heard, not too many items made over the high mark. You have 12ga and the rust issues to be dealt with here...