Spoon Show Score!
 

Found tis old gem at a local fire hall gun show on saturday. Meridian Arms /Aubrey 12 ga. Model 58 which according to what I can find is a very high grade in it's day. Fabulous wood under all the crud along with really rare chain damascus barrels. Horn buttplate and grip cap. This will clean up nicely. This gun sold for $250.00 in 1903 which translates into $6700.00 in todays money. This was a rich guys gun in it's day. I have $200.00 invested in it at this point. It was a good day.

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That's really nice, I'd give ya 2 fity for it. Nice score.

Shotgun
 

Very pretty, even in it's worn state! I agree, it will clean up nicely. Is it a true sidelock gun or are the side plates for decoration? In either case, you done good!!!

Great find! Kinda a wall hanger, but beautiful. I love damascus steel barrels. At the Cody Firearms Museum they have quite a collection of damascus barrel shotguns. I've been a fan ever since.

True side lock Fred. V springs. Later ones had coil springs. Definatly a wall hanger but I'm starting to grab these high grade ones. I don't care that it's not a shooter, got plenty of those. You can't shoot old pistols as well but the market there is high. Collecting high grade damascus guns has been catching on for a while now. Mostly the English best guns..

You have to respect the workmanship that went into these old guns. Hell the electric light wasn't even invented when this gun was made. The barrels were folded and hammered 300 times. that took some time to do.

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Good read here on the process:http://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2010/06/barrel-making-pattern-welded-or.html

I'm with you 100%. This is a great collector shotgun and I'm completely jealous. I've been watching GB for a damascus shotgun for a couple months now and hope to pull the trigger soon. This one is a perfect find and would look great in my office dest rack :D

I'm over the "I shoot everything I own" pretense. In reality, I only shoot two guns regularly…a 1921 1892 25-20 for a pistol cartridge silhouette match and a modern 1894 Legacy 30-30 for the rifle cartridge match. Like the 1885 I just posted with the good case colors. Just looking at them and thinking about their history gives me a lot of enjoyment.

If I hit the lottery…

Parker CH 12 Bernard damascus 2 barrel set : Side By Side Shotguns at GunBroker.com

I share your respect for the old ones. The art of the gun is what brought me to it in the first place not the purpose of the gun. The craftsmanship that went into these is a lost art.

WOW! Parkers are the best of the US guns. The English, the Germans, and the French took it to another level though. I'm a Dan Lefever fan myself...

That's beautiful. Please tell me you'll post the progress you make on this spoon???

Wow, beautiful gun. Great score at 10x the price.

Very nice.

Would that would be fairly early for a hammerless shotgun?

Nice find Dave. Are you going to do your magic (restore it) or enjoy it the way it is?

Craig, I have a couple of Parkers that could be yours.....let's talk.
One DH Damascus and one two barrel CHE.

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or
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Looks like it was well used over the years. Nice find.

looking forward to the restoration thread!

thanks all ..I'll keep ya posted..

Henry I will clean away all the crud and see what I have here. I will most likely do the wood as it is a beautiful piece of lumber and deserves to be seen again. I haven't done a set of black and white barrels since I did your Parkers. I need to hone that skill a bit more. Don't know if I'll do these or not. They have a nice patina to them as is. The action will get a shake and bake in my ultrasound cleaner and that is all. Bill I think the timing is good for a hammerless gun. Not really early as there were hammerless guns in the late 1880's that I have seen.