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revdocdrew
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Posted: Sun Jul 22nd, 2007 09:03 pm |
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Thanks mostly to Dave Miles, I've accumulated enough quality pics to start a separate 'Parker Damascus' PictureTrail http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=17227428
(Click on 'Album List' for the other albums including 'Damascus Barrels', 'LC Smith Damascus', and 'Remington Damascus')
Please let me know if I need to make any corrections, and feel free to e-mail high resolution close up pics with the grade and year production of the gun by JPG attachment to revdoc2@cox.net and thanks! Drew Hause
Last edited on Sun Jul 22nd, 2007 11:49 pm by revdocdrew
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Greg Franklin
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Posted: Sun Jul 22nd, 2007 10:45 pm |
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Thanks Doc; I will try to get you some my beautiful DH. 
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Greg Franklin
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Posted: Sun Jul 22nd, 2007 10:45 pm |
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| BTW, I forgot to tell you that your work is appreciated. Great, helpful people on this forum. Must be something about a Parker........ Last edited on Sun Jul 22nd, 2007 10:48 pm by Greg Franklin
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Don Kaas
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Posted: Mon Jul 23rd, 2007 12:19 am |
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| Thank you for your efforts on compiling these damascus photos. BTW, on this BBS, we use our real names...
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revdocdrew
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Posted: Mon Jul 23rd, 2007 12:28 am |
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| Don: Jeff or Greg will need to change my registration. I can't re-register using the same e-mail. Drew Hause
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Drew Hause MD
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Posted: Mon Jul 23rd, 2007 12:34 am |
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| OK-I'm re-registered and have already received some more great examples. Thanks to all! Last edited on Mon Jul 23rd, 2007 01:27 am by Drew Hause MD
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Bob Brown
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Posted: Mon Jul 23rd, 2007 03:45 pm |
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Drew,
Thank you for your work in putting together the picture trails. I am trying to fix a few cracked stocks and your "repairs and restorations trail" really shows how it should be done. The 1893 10 gauge with laminated barrels pictured in the Parker trail is also mine. For the record it letters as an 0 grade, not a I grade. It was returned to Parker in 1901 to "Clean and rebrown barrels". From the condition of the rest of the gun I don't think it was redone after that. Thanks again.
Bob
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Drew Hause MD
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Posted: Mon Jul 23rd, 2007 04:15 pm |
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| Thanks Bob and I'll make that correction. Could you please send a high resolution close up of those brls-I've never seen Parker 'Laminated' steel and if it was used on lower grade guns, it's probably something other than 'British Laminated Steel.' Last edited on Mon Jul 23rd, 2007 04:16 pm by Drew Hause MD
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Bob Brown
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Posted: Mon Jul 23rd, 2007 04:44 pm |
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| I'll take some better photos and post them Drew. I'll also email some high resolution ones to you. The finish is still quite good all over the barrels so the pattern might not show too well. The Parker serialization book doesn't show any laminated grade 0 guns being made, but the letter confirms it. It was very late in production for laminated barrels, perhaps they were using up some old barrel stock.
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Drew Hause MD
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Posted: Tue Jul 24th, 2007 01:18 am |
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Very interesting marks on Ken's brls
The 'X' could be a Belgian Controller stamp and the 'LD' the mark of Dumoulin-Lambinon (1860-1879) http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20d/a%20dumoulin%20gb.htm
BUT there is also the post-1856 Birmingham Proof House Provisional proof mark.
Could the brls have been made in Belgium, proofed in England, then shipped to Meriden? Or I could be totally wrong 
Last edited on Tue Jul 24th, 2007 02:03 am by Drew Hause MD
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Dean Romig
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Posted: Tue Jul 24th, 2007 02:26 am |
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I don't think so. Those stamps were done after striking and fitting the barrels. I would bet that Parker went abroad and was proofed in England.
Dean
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Drew Hause MD
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Posted: Tue Jul 24th, 2007 03:15 pm |
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Dean: Ken's brl flats show no other British proof marks, which pretty much rules out having been finished in England. From Gun Digest 1962 p. 109 "First proof was appplied to arms in a not-quite-finished state, whereas in second (definitive) proof the barrels had to be smooth in and out, the ribs attached, etc., and, in breechloading arms, the action attached."
If the gun later made a trip to the UK, they should have the Definitive Proof stamp. Is is possible they were exported from Belgium to England as raw brls and received Provisional proofing prior to export to the US? Do any of the Parker books document the sources for damascus brls? British or Belgian? Specific makers mentioned? Thanks!
Last edited on Tue Jul 24th, 2007 04:23 pm by Drew Hause MD
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Drew Hause MD
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Posted: Tue Jul 24th, 2007 05:29 pm |
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Some more interesting stuff (I hope to someone other than me)
Claude Gaier's "Four Centuries of Liege Gunmaking" sheds some light on the connection between US and Belgian firms. Ernest Heuse-Lemoine (1834-1926) from Nessonvaux was a major force in the Vesdre Valley for barrel making. He maintained agents in London, Birmingham, and New York and his firm supplied the Belgian royal court. Every 3 years he would travel abroad and upon his return, would be met by a band in celebration because he always came back with more work orders than his own firm could handle. He would then distribute some of the work to smaller barrel makers in the Vesdre.
Gaier states that Heuse-Lemoine supplied damascus barrels for at least 50 years to US makers, and that he invented the names of "Boston" and "Washington" damascus especially for the American market.
From a booklet published by E. Heuse-Lemoine http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20h/a%20heuse%20gb.htm
'Manufacture of Damascus Gun Barrels'
"...it was from Paris that the first imitation came to us for the researches in the combining some mixture of iron and steel in order to produce figures which we call Damascus, such as Turkish Damascus, Bernard, Leclerk, Parisien Damascus, etc. to an infinate number of names, as the combinations that compose the figures of the Damascus vary constantly...with the only difference, that in these the variery is produced by the colours on the surface, whilst the figures on the damascus are produced by the substance or material like the designs or patterns in our linen weavers. What is the Turkish or Curled Damascus, the Horse-shoe, the Boston, etc. that are derived from them."
Last edited on Tue Jul 24th, 2007 06:44 pm by Drew Hause MD
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Drew Hause MD
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Posted: Wed Jul 25th, 2007 02:22 am |
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| Somewhat off-topic but relevant. We've come up with information that Colt Firearms purchased high grade Plunger-Riga damascus barrels from Heuse-Riga fils. sometime around 1890. Could Parker have done the same thing? Last edited on Wed Jul 25th, 2007 02:32 am by Drew Hause MD
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Drew Hause MD
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Posted: Wed Jul 25th, 2007 02:28 pm |
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Great stuff from Ken regarding his brl marks. Now if we only knew who 'LD' was! Any other unexplained stamps on damascus barrels out there??
Dear Sir,
The mark as shown above is a Birmingham provisional proof mark. It was first introduced in 1868. These were done when the tube unfinished, unchambered and devoid of action were tested before the barrel maker jointed them etc. The letters relate to the barrel maker, the identity of which is unrecorded.
Yours faithfully,
C.W. Harding BSc
Proof House Historian & Archivist
Last edited on Wed Jul 25th, 2007 02:30 pm by Drew Hause MD
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Ken Barney
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Posted: Wed Jul 25th, 2007 03:58 pm |
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Here's a copy of the page in his reference book showing the proof marks and dates. I couldn't figure out how to make it smaller so feel free to do that, if needed, and I'll delete this one. Thanks.
Attached Image (viewed 787 times):
 Last edited on Wed Jul 25th, 2007 04:04 pm by Ken Barney
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Dean Romig
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Posted: Thu Jul 26th, 2007 12:49 pm |
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Drew, what is the serial number of Ken's Parker barrels?
I have 67669, GH 12 Ga.; 79355, GHE 16 Ga.; 116518, GH 12 Ga.; 127367, GH 12 Ga.; 149020, DHE 28 Ga. and none of mine have any such proof marks anywhere on the barrels or flats. Does anyone else have a Parker with such proof marks? If not, what does this say about Ken's barrels/gun ? Does he have the only one ? How came they to be there ? Might the gun have been rebarreled at a later date in Britain or Europe ? Might the barrels have been sourced by Parker Bros. in a small lot from a barrel maker other than those normally used and that sourcing ended soon for whatever reason? Is there a PGCA Research letter on this gun ? If so, does it make any reference to this aspect or contributing aspects ?
Dean
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Drew Hause MD
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Posted: Thu Jul 26th, 2007 01:39 pm |
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Dean: thanks for going to the trouble of checking your damascus guns, and from the lack of responses it looks like no one else has found any marks either. The watertable of Ken's gun has 'A601' stamped underneath a 'C'
Pete Mikalajunas and I have been trying to connect Belgian damascus barrel makers with their US clients, and it was just this week that he found the Colt documentation. So far we have the following, but it looks like this may be a dead end for Parker. If anyone notes marks on their damascus brls, I'd sure appreciate if they would post pics or e-mail me at revdoc2@cox.net.
Damascus
L.C. Smith: Bauduin Doyen & Jean-Baptiste Delcour-Dupont
Baker: Charles Spirlet & Arthur-Delvaux-Heuse
Lefever: Arthur-Delvaux-Heuse & George Laloux
Fox: Jean-Baptiste Delcour-Dupont
Ithaca (Flues): Heuse-Riga Fils
Colt Patent Firearms Mfg. Co.: Plunger-Riga & Heuse-Riga Fils http://heuse.spahistoire.info/henriheuse.html
Steel
Laurent Lochet-Habran: Smith, Lefever, Fox & Ithaca
Last edited on Thu Jul 26th, 2007 01:41 pm by Drew Hause MD
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Ken Barney
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Posted: Thu Jul 26th, 2007 03:22 pm |
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Dean,
The gun is #601 and when I run the serial number on the website, it only says pre-1870 and that no letter is available. It's interesting trying to figure this out...
This picture is from when I first got the gun and it's been cleaned up since then. I also have a close up picture of the proof marks where you can barely make out the letter "K" near both proofs. The letter "K" is also found stamped between the barrels. Is there a list somewhere of Parker employees so that the initials could be compared?
Attachment: Matching Serial Numbers.jpg (Downloaded 102 times) Last edited on Thu Jul 26th, 2007 03:45 pm by Ken Barney
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Dean Romig
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Posted: Thu Jul 26th, 2007 05:10 pm |
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| The letter K is generally known to be the mark of A. King, supervisor of the Parker gun works and the K was stamped on any gun produced under his administration. I am away from my The Parker Story and can't comment on when his tenure began but I don't believe it was that early on. As far as anyone else who may have stamped their mark of K I have no knowledge. I can only suspect that if the K is adjacent to the proof marks then it probably defines the proof marks in some way and may not be a Parker Bros. mark at all.
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