WHO REFURBISHED THIS PARKER?

C

Cow Town Bill

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I bought this Parker12 ga VH recently at auction. It looked so good I didn't want to pass on the opportunity to own and shoot it.
The auction description didn't say it was refurbished but I was sure than it had. It's been restocked and nicely done---not an exact copy of the original but pretty close---and a rather nice piece of walnut. It has been re-case coloured and looks pretty nice to my eyes. Also the barrels and furniture have been nicely re-blacked. The bores are bright and shiny. It is a 1905 model VH grade (no ejectors) with 32" steel barrels ,full and full chokes---double triggers which were the standard of the day.
The question is which craftsman did this fine job of restoration. I contacted Chris Dawe and he didn't do the work. A possibility is Nick Makinson (now deceased) who did a fair bit of work for me---but I can't find any distinguishing sign to identify Nick or anyone else. Possibly the work was done in the US by Delgrego and Sons or Turnball Restoration---really hard to say as I can't find any obvious sign such as initials sign of the craftsman.
I look forward to your comments.
Bill
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That is one pretty gun. Whoever did the works was a real craftsman. Some would say refinishing a gun lessens its collector value but in this case the gun looks so elegant that I would disagree with that school of thought
 
yes a correctly done restoration does not devalue a firearm especially in a case where one the gun is in bad condition to begin with that train of thought only holds true in high condition guns
nice gun Bill
 
Cow Town Bill said:
I bought this Parker12 ga VH recently at auction. It looked so good I didn't want to pass on the opportunity to own and shoot it.
The auction description didn't say it was refurbished but I was sure than it had. It's been restocked and nicely done---not an exact copy of the original but pretty close---and a rather nice piece of walnut. It has been re-case coloured and looks pretty nice to my eyes. Also the barrels and furniture have been nicely re-blacked. The bores are bright and shiny. It is a 1905 model VH grade (no ejectors) with 32" steel barrels ,full and full chokes---double triggers which were the standard of the day.
The question is which craftsman did this fine job of restoration. I contacted Chris Dawe and he didn't do the work. A possibility is Nick Makinson (now deceased) who did a fair bit of work for me---but I can't find any distinguishing sign to identify Nick or anyone else. Possibly the work was done in the US by Delgrego and Sons or Turnball Restoration---really hard to say as I can't find any obvious sign such as initials sign of the craftsman.
I look forward to your comments.
Bill
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The metal work was done by Nick Makinson, restocked by Eddy Mech. I have the original stock if you are interested.
 
Falconflyer said:
A very nice restoration but unfortunately I can't answer your questions.

The red background really brings out the colors in the wood, gorgeous!
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Thanks Falconflyer. I have tried different back ground colours and my preference is red. I sometimes use black and it hides shadows but doesn't bring out the "glow" of the stock.
 
yikes3 said:
The metal work was done by Nick Makinson, restocked by Eddy Mech. I have the original stock if you are interested.
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Thanks, Yikes. I knew both Nick and Eddy quite well---unfortunately they have both passed to the Promised Land.
Can you tell us anything about the history of this gun. This gun must have been very dear to the owner as he obviously spared no expense in its restoration.
 
Cow Town Bill said:
Thanks, Yikes. I knew both Nick and Eddy quite well---unfortunately they have both passed to the Promised Land.
Can you tell us anything about the history of this gun. This gun must have been very dear to the owner as he obviously spared no expense in its restoration.
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This Parker was my grandfathers who purchased it new and then passed it down to me after many years hunting ducks in the marshes of southern Manitoba, when I was a young man. It was well taken care of but I felt it deserved a little love.
 
Cow Town Bill said:
Thanks, Yikes. I knew both Nick and Eddy quite well---unfortunately they have both passed to the Promised Land.
Can you tell us anything about the history of this gun. This gun must have been very dear to the owner as he obviously spared no expense in its restoration.
Click to expand...
Eddy was a great guy. I first knew him in 1968. I was working at Uptown Sporting Goods in Calgary and the store manager (Gunther) knew Eddy quite well. Eddy and Gunther were making a few crude stocks made from 3 pieces of 1/2 inch walnut glued together. I was doing a few custom stocks back then and Eddy started learning to checker... again fairly crude to start but he was really eager and did a lot and got really good at it. We shot a lot of coyotes together in what is north west Calgary now. Did that for several years. I miss those days with Eddy. It was a real competition.
 
a few years back, I went to visit Nick Makinson. asking him to check fitment on my gun.. he took me around his entire basement and showed me all kinds of guns he was working on. He was an absolute gentleman, and had tons on knowledge. At the time, I was probably late 20's and I loved all the information he could give me, as much as he wanted to pass it down to a me.
 
I think whomever restocked that gun was the same person who restocked a 1911 VH I acquired a few years back. The two stocks could almost pass as duplicates if mine hadn't been a straight grip. Nice gun Bill. I look forward to seeing it in person soon.
 
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