family owned .410 VH help!

[charlie cleveland]

i thought the 410 found at the yard sale was afind of a life time and my hats off to the man thats taking care of it...but now we got 3 brothers that buy 3 410 s and hunted with them..now fellows this is truly astonishing to me..i truly hope all the 3 guns are in this family...and as has been said this would make a great storey in the parker pages even if there still not together in this family...i hope this thread goes a long time... charlie

[Bill Murphy]

A Parker .410 restored by a gunsmith whose work looks "beautiful", but no one has heard of him, would be worth thousands less than one restored by someone like Turnbull Restorations. Please let us look at the gun before you make any decision about a full restoration. A .410 Parker in unrestored 60% condition still has value above twelve thousand dollars, maybe well above. 80% of mint for a restored .410 is pushing the limit. A mint VH .410 is close to a $30,000 gun in today's market and no restored VH would be anywhere close.

[edgarspencer]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

A Parker .410 restored by a gunsmith whose work looks "beautiful", but no one has heard of him, would be worth thousands less than one restored by someone like Turnbull Restorations.

That unheard of gunsmith wouldn't be unheard of for long if he did beautiful restorations. I think Turnbull should stick to Colts and Winchesters, and leave the Parkers to others.

[Bill Murphy]

That could bring us to another discussion on another thread. "Who does the best restoration work on high dollar Parkers?" Thanks, Edgar.

[edgarspencer]

That would probably get everyone wound up. There are some super good looking guns that have been done to the nines by names we recognize. Often times however, the ones that look wrong in our own minds stick out. It's a personal thing to most of us, but more subjective when held against guns which retain nearly all their original finish. Case hardening colors seem to be more debated on the lower grade frames, with less engraving coverage, and even they vary considerably between early, Meriden work compared to later Remington work. Having now managed to get a hold of something virtually new, I'm liking moderately used guns even better.
If I were looking to do a rare configured '86 Winchester, I'm sure I'd have Turnbull do it, but sure like what I've seen Brad do on SxS guns.
I have an SAA done by the factory when the Army sent a mess of them back in 1901. It's a 99%+ example, and what is amazing to me is that they still do the same work today. Too bad they don't take outside work in.