It’s day 2 of our countdown to Guyette & Deeter’s Sat, Feb 4th Fine Sporting Arms Auction. This sale features all sorts of fine guns by makers Purdey, Lefever, Westley Richards, Ithaca, Fox, Parkers and L.C. Smiths.
Check out all the doubles in this sale now.
Josh Lowensteiner is part of the team managing this sale. Yesterday we looked at Josh’s first of 5 favorites: Lot 51 RARE AND ICONIC L.C. SMITH A-3 GRADE 12 GAUGE SHOTGUN ILLUSTRATED PROFUSELY IN LT. COL WM BROPHY’S “L.C. SMITH SHOTGUNS” BOOK.
Today, here’s his #2:
Lot #19: EXCEPTIONAL NEAR MINT AND FINEST OF ITS KIND PARKER AHE 12 GAUGE SHOTGUN WITH OPTIONS: SN. 241247. Made with 30” fluid steel bbls, 2-3/4” chambers, that have rare matted ventilated top rib with white front bead. Breech ends of bbls with ring of engraving and scroll on the rib extension. Bbls flats with SN, Parker Overload proof stamps, and unstruck bbl weight of 3lbs. 14 oz. Gun made on a 1-1/2” frame. Splinter forearm is near fully checkered with fully scroll engraved Deeley latch release and irons. Inside of forend with SN stamped. Casehardened action with quail in hillside game scene on left, pheasant in grass on right all surrounded by well executed Parker scroll and wave scroll border pattern. Bbl fences with single bead and are full coverage scroll engraved.
Bottom of receiver with “PARKER” towards front surrounded by scroll and trigger plate with two Pointers in upland scene on point. Trigger plate is full coverage scroll engraved outside of the well executed game scene. Top lever is beveled at center and scroll engraved and top tang with scroll engraving at screw and behind the safety slide. Polish blued trigger guard with rose and scroll engraving on bow, scroll and SN at tang. Mounted with a beautifully figured piece of European Walnut that has checkered side panels and fleur-de-lis behind receiver, checkering through the grip with wave mullered border pattern. Buttstock terminates with an aging Silver’s type pad. Grip cap with large gold cap is factory engraved “CARL H. BEAL” Gun made with Parker SST, auto ejectors and auto safety as well as factory original ventilated rib.
Accompanying this gun is a PGCA research letter dated 2/15/2013 identifying as found today and ordered by Union Hardware & Metal Co. and shipped to them 7/15/1938. Also accompanying this gun is the original cancelled check Mr. Phillips used when he purchased the gun from legendary sporting arms dealer William L. Moore on 6/17/1975 in the amount of $5500 as well as the original clipped advertisement for the gun in the Gun List. Additional provenance includes a July of 1975 appraisal from Pachmayr Gun Works valuing the gun at $6,500. Mr. Phillips put together a one page research write up on the gun noting that Carl H. Beal was born in 1889 in Morton, Kansas. He moved to Southern California and worked in the oil industry and authored numerous books and articles on the exploration of gas. Mr. Beal was well known for his passion for boxed bird events and collumbardie in Southern California throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Mr. Beal died in 1946 and is buried in Glendale, CA.
William L. Moore purchased this gun from Carl Beal’s son in early 1975 and almost immediately sold it to Alan Phillips. The gun has been in Mr. Phillips’ collection for the last 47 years until his passing. This exact gun is also pictured in Larry Baer’s book “The Parker Gun; An Immortal Classic Volume 2” wherein he states that “There may be none finer than this AHE.”. There are also approximately 10 black & white and color vintage photos of this gun. Accompanied by its original instruction hang tag. WEIGHT: 7lbs. 7oz. Min. Wall Thickness: over .028(Rt) .030(L). Bore Diameter: .729 (Rt) .730(L). Bore Restriction: .015(Rt) .016(L). DAC: 1-5/8”. DAH: 2-3/8”. LOP: 13-3/4”.
CONDITION: Exceptionally fine, choice and investment grade. Bbls with more than 98% original blue and only a couple of light rub marks noted and high point edgewear on rib. Forearm is crisp and original with a couple of minor impressions and irons with nearly all of their original case color. Receiver retains virtually all of its bold, beautiful dark original case color with crisp engraving and the top lever is significantly right of center. Screws are crisp and untouched. Trigger guard with more than 97% of its beautiful original blue. Buttstock is sound and near mint with only minor handling marks and impressions. The pad was replacement in 1978 by Mr. Phillips who relayed to this cataloger that the original pad had already collapsed at that time. The stock was not shortened when this pad was added. Breech ends of bbls with original high polish blue on the ejector stop and original file marks on breech. Bores are brilliant and shiny. Mechanics are crisp. Gun was fired very little by Mr. Beal and unused since that time. This gun was one of the crown jewels of The Phillips collection having been one of his true pride and joy guns for nearly 50 years! C&R.
FYI: The accuracy of these listings has not been verified by Dogs and Doubles. All information has been provided by the sellers. Buyers are responsible for verifying the physical condition and all specifications of the listed items. Dogs and Doubles recommends you and a qualified gunsmith physically inspect an item before purchasing.
