Parker, Year 1929, 12ga, 8lb 2oz, SN#230918 Here we have a unique offering with high appeal and great value. This extravagant Parker began life as a rare gun. How can a Parker VHE 12ga. be rare with over 50,000 produced? The answer is the configuration. Ordered FROM THE FACTORY with options very rarely seen on a VH Grade gun, including ventilated rib (only 201 VHE 12ga. w/vr), beavertail forearm (163 VHE 12's w/factory beavertails), only 4543 with 32" barrels, and fewer than 100 so configured with an English style stock. To really put the rarity factor into play…it left the factory as a live bird gun with no safety. This Parker, sn230918 built in 1929, was ordered as a serious trap or live bird gun with the above features. There are no factory records for Parker guns in this serial number range. I have been a nationally recognized Parker expert for over 3 decades and I personally guarantee these are all factory features. Any Parker expert would concur, and careful study of the photos will bear this out. WE HAVE THE BEFORE PHOTOS, INCLUDING THE ACTION OUT OF THE WOOD FOR YOUR REVIEW UPON REQUEST. THEY CONFIRM THE PROCESS. The previous owner knew that he had a special Parker. Being a serious live pigeon competitor intent on taking big prizes with this gun, his first step was to have a Perazzi single trigger installed in the gun at a cost of over $2500 15 years ago. Why? Because the Perazzi single trigger has won more events world-wide than any other and is the most reliable single trigger ever created. The wood was upgraded to historically correct Parker AAHE quality, with elaborate flor-de-lis carvings, superb checkering, and strongly figured Turkish walnut. We then sent the gun to Geoffroy Gournet to engrave the entire gun in a Parker AAHE floral and scroll patterned after a gun shown in the Parker Story volumes on page 342. Gournet is an old-school, world renowned hammer and chisel engraver that has created a Parker AAHE live bird gun that most would agree outshines the original Parker engraver’s work. IT IS FABULOUS! Look at the detail, background shading, depth of cuts, the beaded fences, and the flow of the scroll and bouquets of flowers. The trigger guard is a masterpiece. There was no expense spared creating this one-of-a-kind Parker AAHE. Vintage doublegun enthusiasts are well aware that Parker’s live bird guns received special care when ordered, with slightly overbored barrels (.735 bore diameter), precise chambers and chokes, and solid patterns developed by their best barrel men before shipping. If you ever wanted to own a high-grade Parker live bird gun with these features, buying an upgraded gun is the only path available. Many upgraded Parkers exist, but upon scrutiny do not measure up to what a historically correct Parker should be. They only made ONE Parker AAHE 12ga. with a vent rib and ONE with a beavertail, and it is not likely they were on the same gun, and near impossible that either was a live-bird gun. The only way to own a Parker so configured is to buy this masterpiece. The gun is like new inside and out, with all mechanics tuned, barrels tight on the hinge pin and breech face like a new gun, VFI CERTIFIED with a 90-day mechanical warranty. At 8lbs. 2oz. and balanced ½” ahead of the hinge pin and choked M/F, she is set up to be explosive at the traps, on the sporting clays course, or in the field. Barrel Length: 32" Chokes: .020/.038 Modified/Full Bores: perfect mirrors Bore Diameter: .735/.735 Wall Thickness: .028/.030 % Blue: 100% Chambers: 2 3/4" Ribs: factory vent rib, tight Action: tight, right of center Ejectors or Extractors: ejectors, strong, timed Case Color: 100% turnbull Engraving: AAHE by Gournet Trigger Type: perazzi single nst Trigger Guard Color: 100% CHARCOAL BLUE LOP: 14 3/8" rear trigger LOP To End Of Wood: 13 7/16" DAH: 2 3/8"/1 5/8" DAC: 1 5/16" Cast: neutral