Paul Jaeger - Parker Custom GH

[Bruce Day]

Mr. Yaeger, Brian Dudley gave you a very good answer. Let me give a hypothetical. Suppose it was a Winchester Hi Wall sent off to Belgium to have a Belgium barrel installed. Would the Winchester collectors be interested in that? Or a Colt SAA sent off to Italy for a Uberti barrel? Or a Mod 12 with a Hastings barrel?

Its not unique, its not one of a kind. It is a lower grade and common Parker sent off to Belgium to be rebarreled. Over 22,000 GH's were made . We see a lot of Belgium re-barreled Parkers. There was a business in that for those who believed their Damascus barrels to be dangerous or who blew up their original barrels. I don't know who Paul Jaeger was or is. Its not clear what work Paul Jaeger did, he either sent the gun off to Belgium or he might have fit the Belgium barrels to the gun. The proof marks indicate to me that the Belgiums did the work. The barrel ribs are incorrect. The barrel/breech jointing is not as precise as original Parker G's. He may have been a master gunsmith, a term we hear a lot and take with a grain of salt. He may have been known in the area where he worked. I'm sure a regular here knew him well and was a friend. The gun may be of interest to him.

There is some value to the gun. Put it on a gun auction site without reserve for a couple weeks or a month, and the market will set the value. This gun will not be according to Blue Book values because those are based on original condition or at least unaltered/unmodified guns. The gun is what it is. To give you an idea of what it would have been worth , we see nice condition original GH or GHE 12's with Damascus or fluid steel selling for $3500 to $5000.

As Brian told you, this might make somebody a useful shooting gun.

Good luck and thank you for your interest in Parker collecting.