Best Deal on a Parker in your Buying Career

[todd allen]

There was this guy. No names please. Wealthy grandfather dies. When they opened his safe, heirs are squabbling over stock certificates, etc. This guy reaches into the corner and pulls out an old Parker .410, looks at the rest of the family and asks "anyone interested in this old shotgun"?
Obviously the old gun was not as interesting as old stock certificates, so he walks the gun out, and puts it in the trunk of his car.
Some folks just aren't into old guns I guess. Oh, and they evenly divided the stocks in the end.
I got this story from a pretty reliable source, so I believe it's true.

[Kevin McCormack]

Years ago an acquaintance I made shooting pigeons happened to have owned a pawn shop. I casually asked him at a shoot one Saturday if he had any Parkers in for hock; he said he had just taken in a really nice PH grade 20 gauge gun but of course "you know you can't shoot smokeless powder loads out of it because all of them were built Damascus barreled." When I asked him the SN of the gun he said "just before they quit making them."

The following Monday I took a couple of hours of leave off my job at noontime and drove out to his shop. He wasn't there but his counter guy got him on the phone and I said "How much do you want for this PH 20"? He said, "Well since you'll have to buy black powder shells in 20 gauge and I don't know where in hell you'll find those, I'll take $1500 for it."

It was a 228XXX series PHE 20, 26" PG SFE DHBP in about 75% original condition, choked IC & MOD. And, oh yeah, it had Parker Steel barrels!

[David Noble]

I've told this story before but it deserves a repeat, even though I didn't end up with the gun. This was around 1987 or so. I was working in my gun store and received a phone call from a kid that asked if I wanted to buy a double barrel shotgun. I said "yes, probably, what can you tell me about it?" He replied "It says Parker on it and it is HUGE, must be a 20 gauge!" I told him to bring it in for me to see.
About an hour later two guys walked in and said they had called with a gun for sale. I told them that yes they had talked to me and that they should bring it in.
So they go get it from the car and presented it to me. It was a CH 8ga with 36 inch damascus barrels. There were some case colors remaining on the receiver in places but mostly just well cared for metal, Engraving was sharp as new and the barrels had beautiful damascus finish full length. The wood was untouched and still had the skeleton butt plate. I had a few Parkers and basic knowledge of them at that time so I was looking over the gun pretty thoroughly. There was an "8" stamped on the rear lug and I speculated that it was a size 8 frame, and I believed it was an 8 frame because the barrels and action had a massive diameter and the gun felt like it weighed 20 lbs! This was of course the first 8 gauge shotgun I had ever held. I was shaking in my boots at the prospect of owning this fantastic and rare shotgun for the $200 agreed upon price, but I knew in my gut that I could not, so as I stalled them I picked up the phone and called the Haltom City Texas police department and told them what was going on. Ten minutes later two squad cars pulled up and the officers started questioning the two young men and then handcuffed them and took them and the gun away. They turned out to be illegals and had just stolen the gun the night before from a Judge in a local county. The gun had not been reported stolen at that time but the police took the two guys away to hold for questioning.
I cited this incident here on the forums about 9 or ten years ago and Bill Murphy assured me then that it was not a number 8 frame and that the largest frame for a hammerless 8 gauge was a 6 and that the "8" stamped on the lug was the gauge marking. It sure fooled me.
I have not seen or heard of that gun since. I didn't even get a phone call from the Judge to thank me for getting it back for him, but why should I expect to, it was just the right thing to do.

[Bill Murphy]

Please visit the judge, and bring lunch.

[Craig Larter]

deleted sorry

[todd allen]

I Didn't know whether to post this here, or on the "Old Day's thread. I got one of my better deals from an ad in a gun mag for Chaddick's about 27 or so years ago. I got the bug for a Lifter. They had one.
Listed as a "D" Grade 10 gauge, with a bunch of drop at the heel. Turned out to be an early $250 grade, 12 gauge, (1874) very modern dimensions. Exactly the same as my MX 8 pigeon gun.
The package arrived on a rainy day, and was soaking wet. The UPS guy waited around to see if I would refuse it, based on the possibility of rain damage. I took a chance, and kept it. Did a complete strip and clean, and lightly but thoroughly oiled it. Still with me to this day.
I'm sure Herschel didn't have anything to do with the evaluation of this gun. I'm assuming it was the kids.
I don't remember the price, but it was somewhere in the 2k range. I spoke to Herschel some years later at Beinfeld's, and he figured the kids measured the drop at heel with the hammers down.

[todd allen]

Correction to the above: The lifter was listed as a "B" grade in the ad.
I remember that now, because I did not have a "B" yet in my humble collection, and my flickering brain cells sparked up for a momentary memory recollection.

[Bill Murphy]

Old thread, but I seemed to have left out one great deal. Ron Kirby called me one night and asked if I could visit someone who lived near me who has a gun that he wants appraised. The guy lived about eight blocks from my office. I contacted him and I ended up buying his VHE .410 skeet gun for a very fair price. Thanks, Ron.

[Dean Romig]

There have been a lot of “best deal on a Parker” for me but I’d rather not say which ones they are/were… but they were all beautiful!

Possibly the 99+% condition 1893 unfired Grade-1 16 on the 0-frame was such a stroke of luck and the highest condition gun (in “used” condition) of any kind of gun I have ever owned.




.

[Quigley97]

Mine was, as they say dropped in my lap. A gentleman brought a 1891 "G" grade 12 ga. 30" into my club asking about having the stock refinished. He was referred to me account of it being a Parker and I have a few. I told the gentleman that it depended on who he sent it to to be refinished. It could be anywhere from $400.00 to who knows depending on the amount of work. Looking at the stock it just looked quite dirty and the barrels were a sooty black. The gentleman said he heard that I did the stocks on my Parkers and asked to see them. I showed them to him and he asked if I was interested in doing the job. I told him I am no professional. If he wanted me to take it home and try to clean it some I would. He agreed.
After about 3 hours of cleaning with mineral spirits I was surprised to see the checkering came out almost like new. It took another 3 hours of cleaning on the barrels and I was amazed at the Damascus pattern. The bores were mirror bright with plenty of wall thickness, almost new. There was no way this gun had been used very much at all. It looked like some one just propped it in the corner behind a coal stove for quite some time. When I brought it back to the owner he was surprised and I told him if I owned the gun that I would take it out and shoot it and enjoy it. He then said he was told that the gun was only worth about a thousand dollars. He then asked me how long I spent working on it and I told him about 6 hours. Then he totally shocked me. He said if I had $400.00 he would let me keep the gun. Needless to say I couldn't get to the ATM fast enough. Someone smiled on me that day.