Baker Paragon

[Daryl Hallquist]

Steve, here is a website that we put together a few years ago. Drew Hause saved it and you can read a lot about Baker guns.. If you click on the Baker Gun and Forging Company guns in the Table of Contents, and then reclick on the address that appears, you can see info on all models including the Paragon, which was a Made to Order model of high quality. Started in 1892 the Paragon was the highest grade at the time. Most later Paragons were engraved by Frank Mason, one in house very good engraver. The very latest models were engraved by Rudolph Kornbrath.

https://www.bakercollectors.com/

[Researcher]

Guns by the Baker Gun & Forging Co. don't come with the consistency of Parker Bros. BG&FCo. went through several management upheavals and it seems like every new issue of The Baker Gun Quarterly or later The Baker Gunner, newspapers that served as the companies catalogs to at least 1909, the offerings changed slightly. The original Paragon with the "draw-block" wings on the barrel lug that fit into recesses in the frame and had simple wedge bolting in the rib extension, was essentially a slightly nicer version of the A- and B-grades. From the May 1903 issue of The Baker Gun Quarterly --

Paragon Grade, May 1903, The Baker Gun Quarterly 01.jpeg

Paragon Grade, May 1903, The Baker Gun Quarterly 02.jpeg

These Paragons that I have recorded have three-digit serial numbers. A bit later they called the Paragon the P-Grade and the Paragon Krupp the N-Grade and these I've recorded are in the 10xx serial number range.

For 1909 they added a new Paragon Model Nineteen Nine which dropped the "draw-block" but added "roller cocking" and a vertical rotary bolt. From the 1911 pocket catalog --

Page 8.jpeg

These I've recorded have 11xx serial numbers.

The next BF&GCo. catalog I have is circa 1915 and the Paragon now had a Greener cross-bolt --

Paragon Grade 1915 Catalog 01.jpeg

Paragon Grade 1915 Catalog 02.jpeg

These Paragon versions that I've recorded have serial numbers in the 201xxx and these roll on into the H & D Folsom Bakers after 1919 with an F after the serial number.