Tell me about my Parker Hammergun

[Dean Romig]

The John Hanson gun, B2505, pictured on page 234 of The Parker Story, is identified as "seems to be the $135 grade on the 1872 price list." has Damascus Steel barrels and is shown here as well from the pictures I took while dave Suponski and I visited with John in January of 2010.

Adding more mystery to early Parkers and their grading is on pg. 238 of TPS as Parker no. 4311 identified by the authors as "has Laminated Steel barrels and must be the top grade gun priced at $250 on the 1872 price list."
Oddly, later on when Parker Bros were using the number/letter grade we find that Damascus Steel barrels were used only from Grade 2 and up while Grade 1 guns sported Laminated Steel barrels and Grade 0 guns had Twist. One exception to this that we have noted is the "English Laminated" barrels have been observed on later lifter hammer gun higher grades such as Grade 4.
It is all pretty intense and difficult to nail down grades and the features which represent the grades. As has been stated before, 'sometimes the only way to grade an early Parker is by the price charged for a particular gun as noted in the books... and sometimes that is not good enough to make a clear identification as some guns were discounted and the 'list price" was not always noted but simply the sell price.'