Parker 0 grade 1877 interesting forearm
 

I received this gun today and had posted in another thread about the newer style forearm used on this 1877 gun, serial 10275. There is an interesting stamp in the wood on the inside of the forearm that I believe reads J. PHENIX. Any thoughts on what this possibly is. Could it be a past owners name or possibly something from the factory?

There was an in-house Parker Bros. contractor named Phoenix (I forget what for); this may be a misspelling in the stamp setup or it could be another person altogether.

According to page 488 of Vol. II of TPS in 1875ish Gideon Phoenix (sic) was a "forend maker."

Page 491 says in about 1893 (per the Meriden City records) Joseph Phoenix (sic) son of Gideon, was a "contractor for forearms."

I believe that if the stamp die says "Phenix" then that's how those two gentlemen actually spelled their surname.

So that's who 'modernized' your forend, but somebody else removed the original forend loop and fitted the new replacement to accept the Deely style latch.


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Thanks for the information Dean. I am always amazed at the wealth of knowledge and information that a person can tap in to on this forum.

It is not uncommon for these early hammer guns to have the stock maker (or forend maker, in this case) to be stamped in the wood.
The forends were a separate operation in the factory. The name will be stamped on some guns in that area. And on the stocks I have seen the name stamped under the top tang and also under the trigger guard. Phoenix is one of them, Beecher is another. I think I have seen a Fletcher or something like that on stocks. And of course Bannister is another.

All this is covered in The Parker Story.

That is a really clean example of the stamp that you have there.

Here are examples of how his name is spelled in the stock books. Looks like Phenix to me. I'm not sure if "Tips" refers to just the metal tip on the forend, the entire forend metal, or the entire forend. Bannister name is listed as in the same book under "Stocked". Was one responsible for the forend and one for the buttstock?

Yes chuck, the frond making was a separate department from stock making.
And "Tip" does refer to the whole forend.