Restored GHE 12ga

[Dean Romig]

Matt, I hope you are able to get a Parker shotgun that suits you, be it this one or another.
When you do, please join the Parker Gun Collectors Association. Annual membership is $40 and letters for members are $40 each. Unfortunately, a letter for a non-member is $100.

[Matt Natoli]

Thanks Dean. I do plan on joining, and I hope I can work out an acceptable price on this particular gun.

Matt

[Pa SxS]

Matt,

All the extra's could have been done by Remington when it was returned for service however no records exist to show what exactly was done. They had the ability to do the ejectors and single trigger.

The question remains as to why the reinforced lug was not changed if Remington did the beavertail. All Parker wood had the S/N stamped into the wood when made in Meriden. I don't know if this practice was also done at Remington but you may want to separate the beavertail wood from the metal and look for a S/N stamped in the wood. I don't know how difficult this is.

[Matt Natoli]

Good information. Thanks. I will see if the owner will allow me to do that. I just talked Doug Turnbull and sent him 12 pictures of the gun to see if he thinks he did the restoration, if need be I will bring the gun to his shop for him to see it in person.

When I get home I'll check the forearm wood for the serial number.

Matt

[B. Dudley]

The Ejectors could have been added at a later date by Parker Under a repair order. And even the BTFE could have been done as well. A letter might show this work. I find it hard to believe that they would have changed out the forend loop if a BTFE were added. That would be a bit of a task.

Either way, that forend iron is correct for a BTFE. I would think that if that forend wood were added by someone other than Parker/Remington, they would have just used the original splinter forend Iron.

I think info regarding those repair codes would shed some more light on this.

[Dean Romig]

I would be very surprised to learn Parker Bros. or Remington would have added a BTFE without changing the forend lug to the reinforced style.

[Pa SxS]

I'll say it again, the PGCA has no records of what Remington repairs were done to Parkers when sent to them. All we can tell you was the month and year it was returned.

Perhaps somewhere in the bowels of Remington there are records of what was done but the PGCA doesn't have that information.

[Bill Murphy]

Order a PGCA letter and maybe some of these questions could be answered. I'm sure the researcher has looked up this gun and is just waiting for the check to arrive so he can tell you what he already knows. The ejectors either are or aren't original equipment and the PGCA letter may tell you. The PGCA letter may also tell you whether some of the modifications on the gun were performed at Parker Brothers, before 1919.

[Matt Natoli]

New Update.

I sent 12 pics to Turnbull and they do not think they did the restoration. I am going to contact Lefever Arms and DelGrego, however I'm fairly certain this was not restored by DelGrego do to the colors. I spoke with the previous owner and was told his grandfather had the gun restored approximately 20 years ago and it was brought to the shop and not shipped out for the restoration.

So, my question now is, what does this all mean to a fair price, the current status is as follows:

1910 GH 12ga
Ejectors added at some time, most likely in 1936, gun was returned to Remington in March and May of 1936 but can't prove this
Beavertail Forearm has serial no. 152816 under the forearm iron stamped in the wood, correct BTFE iron with 152816 stamped on it, but standard forearm lug.
Single trigger added, possibly in 1936 when repaired by Remington.
28" Parker Special Steel BBLs choked ic/mod which is correct from order book, which is what the gun has
100% restoration completed but can not prove who did the restoration.

What would be a fair price to offer the owner for this gun? Am I off by offering $2550? I don't want to insult the owner but my thoughts are:

2010-11 Book Value: $3250 very good condition
35% addition for ejectors =$1137.50
Total $4387.50
I have been told a full restoration decreases the value by 50% but if preformed by a known restorer 35%, so that would bring the gun down to either $2193 or $2850, so if I met the guy in the middle of these figures ($2521.50) am I thinking reasonably? Again, I don't want to insult him but at the same time I don't want to over pay for this gun.

Thanks to all for the information on this gun. I'll let eveyone know if I end up making the deal and post some pics it that does occur.

Greatfull for your help.

Matt

[Bill Murphy]

Have we seen the pictures that tell us that this is a Parker trigger? Oh, just found the picture on page 3. Parker trigger. Do we know that the end of the barrels has a blank space in the matting? Finally, maybe, the bore and choke dimensions. When the PGCA letter is posted, we can get serious about value. I see in a recent post that you have gotten some info from our researcher. Regardless of whether his information shows an ejector installation as repair work or not, the ejectors would only have been installed by Parker Brothers, Remington, or Del Grego, and not likely by Del Grego. They didn't like doing the conversion and charged a lot for it. No one else is really qualified to install the Parker ejector system, so your ejectors should be considered "factory".