Originally Posted by
Tom M King
I missed getting this shotgun for nothing, because it was hidden in a casket that I didn't open. This is one of my Great Grandfathers. The shotgun is a double barreled Parker 10 ga. with Damascus barrels. I was shown it when I was about 12, and told to never shoot it. I never saw it again after that, until the auction sale of the old home place that my previous generation decided to sell, since none of them wanted it. It included a 19th Century General Store that was closed in 1935.
Family members were allowed to take whatever they wanted, but it had to be taken out pretty quickly. I got some nice stuff, but didn't think to open the caskets, that had been for sale, up in the attic of the store. My Uncle had hidden some guns in one of the caskets. One of them was this shotgun.
There was a long list for the auction, but no guns listed, so the buyers that showed up were not expecting any. Long story shortened some, when they brought down the caskets, they opened them, and found the guns. They were sold under separate sales.
This Parker sold for $2500, with no real gun collectors there. I didn't want it bad enough to pay more than that for it, especially knowing that it had been shot a lot, and was kind of loose, from my old memory. I think this is the same gun, but not 100% sure. Picture is from sometime late 1860's into 70's.