doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Curious Parker listings at Julia auction...

Check out these condition descriptions from two listings at the upcoming Julia auction. Both of these guns are big-money Parkers.

Note the use of "orig" (original), highlighted by me where it appears. These are the complete listing reports, as they appear online:

PARKER 1

CONDITION: Extremely fine. Bbls retain nearly all of their fine blue with just a few minor nicks and scratches. Receiver retains nearly all case colors with minor thinning on sharp edges. Trigger guard retains 95% blue with minor thinning in grip area. Stock is sound with sharp checkering, some minor handling marks and retains virtually all of its finish. Forend is sound with minor nicks and dings, sharp checkering and retains virtually all its finish. Mechanics are crisp with strong ejectors and bright shiny bores as gun appears to have seen very little use.


PARKER 2

CONDITION: Very good. Bbls retain 85-90% orig blue with some minor wear at muzzle, a few minor surface oxidation marks on left bbl 7-9" from muzzle, some minor thinning on left bbl just forward of forend tip, some thinning on bottom of bbls at forend tip and the usual minor nicks and scratches. Left bbl flat is marked with a circle "JG" and "5 3". Left bbl flat has a circle "T", "HT" over "A", "4 3", and "3" near the chambers. Receiver retains 20-25% orig fading case colors blended with a brown silvery patina. Trigger guard has 30% orig blue, fairly strong across bow, mixed with silvery patina at front edge and through grip area. Stock is sound with nice sharp re-cut checkering, a few minor handling marks in its fine restored hand-rubbed finish; it fits very well around frame and tangs but is just a whisker shy around the skeleton butt plate. Forend is sound with patina gray exposed metal parts, some minor nicks and dings, good checkering with only a couple of minor flattened points; carries a nice hand-worn patina finish. Mechanics are crisp with strong ejectors, top lever just slightly right of center, crisp trigger pulls, nice bright bores.

----

It's curious that "orig" (original) is not mentioned at all in the condition report for the first gun.

Did the person who wrote it up forget to use it?

OWD

I'm also curious as to the funny stamps on the barrel flats of that 20ga.

They probably did. Julia's has several people to do condition reports depending on the type of weapon. Each person seems to have his/her own style as can be noted from reading past catalogues. Parker #1 appears to be in original condition as well but a phone call or e-mail would be appropriate to confirm.
I just received my catalogue in today's mail and there are some nice offerings. I just wish I had more extra money to bid with.

Just My Opinion.......George

I didn't realize that any buyer of big ticket items relied on the auction house to determine what is original and what is not. Is there some kind of recourse after the sale if some aspect of a gun is determined to not be "original"? Maybe I'm too low on the food chain, but I am used to gun auctioneers being a bit untutored on the finer details of originality.

I buy from Julia's strictly on their photos and description as I have no other way of viewing the guns prior to auction. I consider anything they say to be at least a little suspect, but to be frank I am a person who finds more important things in life to worry about than if Parker reblued an AHE built in 1923 ten years later.

What I'm saying is if it looks original and nothing else leads me to believe it's not then that's good enough for me.

The one time I had a problem with Julia - they sent me a gun with a cracked wrist that was not mentioned - they stood behind the gun and gave me a choice of returning it or letting their guy fix it. I can't say they were eager to deal with the issue but I didn't have to drag them by the nose either.

As I typed this the FedEx man dropped off my catalog. The lot I refer to above is #1337 - what are those cloverleaf looking stamps on the flats?

I intend to bid on almost all of the A grade guns since I am sitting on all kinds of spare cash but I sure hope they don't sell for the pre-auction estimates as I am not sitting on that kind of spare cash.

Well, they're on 1336 too....Peerless steel stamps?

Keen observation regarding the description OWD! Ed Muderlak "schooled" us on this very thing on page 139 of his book Parker Guns the "Old Reliable".

GregSY, if you have that type of cash to spend you should really go to the auction, see what your getting or might get, plus they will put you up and its a buzz.

tim

Well....I have 'some' cash but no time.

That's a bummer. Being able to bid over the phone is second best. You just can get some stuff that you didn't THINK looks quite like that and end up settling. On the other hand you can get some GREAT stuff that way. It's a little bit of a crap shoot.

tim