Hess/Parker/Butler/Hamel Set for Alabama Show Auction

[Marcruger]

Hi Folks,

Just a few photos for y'all of a set we are working on for Jim Parker's Alabama Show on January 9th.  Ron Hess, Todd Butler, Jim Parker and I are pulling together this set based upon an original set that Jim borrowed.  I will let the guys add to this and contribute more explanation as we go. 

I received the horn from Ron yesterday and it is a beauty.  I looks very much like the original, and Ron can share more here. 

I made the bag, and will be making the sheath once Todd gets the knife completed.  The bag copies the overall silhouette of the original bag, so I will say it was "inspired by" the original.  3-4 ounce cowhide bridle leather, well broken, with heavy canvas lining.  There is a stiffener and strap anchor strip inside the back.  The accoutrements hanger is copper by Bob Hill.  Iron buckle.  Simple design, but the best construction I could achieve. 

I hope you all enjoy these, and hopefully one of you will like to take this set home in support of Jim's show this January. 

God Bless,   Marc

[mab7]

Very, very nice!

[Cades Cove Fiddler]

  ... great looking outfit,.... I will be looking forward to seeing this at the show,... will it be raffled,...?
 

[James Rogers]

Nice set. Someone's stitching is improving!

[Greg Pennell]

Good looking work, all y’all!  Is this gonna be raffled, or auctioned?  If the former, I’d like to get some tickets, as I doubt I’ll be able to make the show.

Greg

[BOB HILL]

Fine looking set, fellows. Someone will be very proud to carry that. Thanks for sharing it with us all.
Bob

[Tim Crosby]

 Good looking set, the bag is really neat and well done.

   Tim

[Mike Lyons]

Beautiful Marc.  Hope to see it beside a dead animal soon!!

[bama]

Hello everyone. I will be giving this bag away to one of the table holders at the Alabama Kentucky Rifle show this coming January 9th, 10th, 11th. The only people that will have a chance of winning this bag set are the table holders. I give each table holder a ticket for each table you have at my show. If you have one table you get one ticket, two tables you get two tickets, three tables 3 tickets and so on. If you are a table holder you can buy additional tickets for $10 dollars each, as of now I have 93 tables spoken for and I am in hopes of making it to 100 tables by show time. This being said you have pretty good odds if you are a table holder. There will be no tickets for sale to non-table holders. Now that's not to say that you couldn't get with a table holder and have him purchase you a ticket, just make sure it is someone you trust.

I am very pleased and excited with the quality of the bag set. Mark, Ron and Todd are some of the best of today's artisans and I am sure you will be delighted if you are the lucky table winning ticket.

I started giving a door prize to the table holders as a way to say thank you for supporting this show. We are going on our 4th year and the show is growing and being well attended by both artisans and the public.

If you have never attended my show I think you would be in for a real treat. It is in a beautiful setting on the Tennessee River backwaters of the Joe Wheeler Park. The  Lodge has just updated all of its rooms and the facility and it has a great restaurant, you  never have to leave the show once you arrive unless you just want to.

I have room for 120 tables total and I am in hopes that we will reach that total with the next few years. It is a great show filled with the best contemporary builders, craftsmen and craftswomen that you will see anywhere. Plus we have a great group of collectors that will have some of the best originals on display. The CLA is going to have their table set up again this year as well as the KRF is going to have a two table display set up.

We are going to have a speaker that is a direct ancestor of the Kennedy family of gunsmiths do a presentation on the branch of the Kennedy's that moved into Alabama and went to the gun building business. She will also have a great original Kennedy rifle that has been passed down through the family.

It is going to be a great show and I am in hopes that all of you hear on the ALR board will attend. If any of you guys are members of other boards please feel free to share this information.

Thanks, Jim Parker

[bama]

I forgot to mention how I became acquainted with the original bag and horn set.

When I started Alabama - Kentucky Rifle show four years ago I was in hopes that the show being located in the deep south would bring out some good original rifles and accouterments that have been hidden away in the family's closet. Well, the owner of the original bag and horn lives in Florence, AL and does not get out to many of the Kentucky Rifle shows. When I walked by his table last year this bag set caught my eye. I stopped and asked him about it and that is when I found out that this bag and horn set and the rifle that goes with this set is from the area of southern Tennessee and possibly Northern Alabama. So it seemed like a good fit as a Door Prize for a show that is located in Northern Alabama.

When I talked to Ron and Todd about the project they liked the idea and then Ron talked Marc into coming on board and the rest is history.

I will say I had a bag made for me about 40 years ago by a gentleman out in Montana from Elk hide that is very similar in design to this bag. I have always thought it was a very useful and handy bag. I have seen many original bag and horn sets but very few with the horn attached to the strap and the patch knife also attached to the strap. It is a great bag for the hunter.

Jim

[art riser]

Pictures of the original?

[Marcruger]

Hi Art, Here is the original set.  God Bless,  Marc

[Mick C]

Wonderful rig.  And nice to see the original too. Thanks for sharing.