I owned a B Quality Purdey that was an extractor gun. Certainly never thought of it as a "best".

I stand corrected on price comparisons "back in the day". It's interesting to see how things have changed in today's used gun market. For example, the 1936 A&F catalog shows my Sauer Model 280 20ga with a price of $225. The same catalog lists a Parker DHE at $186.50. I'd probably pay about 4 times as much for a DHE Parker 20 in comparable condition, in today's market, than I did for the Sauer.