Let yee that is perfect cast the first stone.

Scott, how do you account for Fox's famous (or infamous?) flying footballs??? Many early American engravings can't stand close critical scrutiny, but some can. We recently found an early killer A1S whose engraving isn't perfect either, but I don't know anyone with a half a brain who would throw it under a bus. One just has to remember what was the norm for the day. Now, this should stir the pot a bit and get the vital fluids flowing!! Remember: Life is Good, Treat it With Respect!

I just meant that engravers today repair dinged up engavering so I wondered why Parker wouldn't do the same. Didn't mean to ruffle feathers if I did. Thinking more about it, I guess it should be measured by the standards of the day. Just seems to me that it's a pretty obvious mistake at a noticeable location. Lines are wavy and thickness uneven too. Why give a newbee a job on a high grade gun? I'm surprised Parker would let it go. Maybe it is not as easy to fix as I think. Again, didn't mean to cast any stones

Ahfoxman good to hear from you. You must be referring to the extinct species of the "Wilson" bird from deep in the backwoods of the old country. :rotf:

We have a 16 ga VHS in the family that was purchased from a big box store at a discount because the trigger guard had a different serial number. The inletting and finishing around the trigger guard looked perfect for a gun that had the original stock and forend. When we got the gun home we removed the trigger guard screw and rotated it to find the underside of the trigger guard was stamped with the correct serial number. Apparently the engraver engraved the wrong number on it and it went out the door. I will see of I can find a picture.

Found the pictures but they are blurry to say the least but you can see in the first picture the serial number of the gun is 114178 is on the stock and guard is engraved 113178. In the second you can see 114178 is stamped on the bottom of the trigger guard. Sorry for the picture quality we took them with a camera phone several years ago.

http://parkerguns.org/forums/picture...pictureid=3614

http://parkerguns.org/forums/picture...pictureid=3615

I work for a company that manufactures a Glazed Porcelain product that has it's roots in the late 1890's. We have a very large collection of ours and our competitor's product dating back to the beginning. And it is amazing how finishes looked back then vs. today. Today customers whine about even the smallest cosmetic flaw where the material back then was on the absolute other end of the spectrum.

And I think it was not uncommon for different skill levels of engravers to work on different areas of the gun. ie: Game scenes, scroll, line borders, etc...

Parker took guns in trade, refinished them, and sold them as new. They put used barrels on guns and sold them as new. They used "old tips" on guns and sold them as new. I guess they put up with some engraving errors also.

I kind of like it. Bad lighting, thunderstorm... whatever, it sure is different.

Have to make a correction--the "out of register", double stamped barrel logo on my 8 gauge was on my hammer, V grade (equivalent) that was made in 1892. It's hell to get old....