Parker stock curiosity
 

Was curious if anyone has or has seen the extra little set of marks under the trigger guard tang?

If you refer to the serial number as the extra set of marks they are the best piece of info to prove the stock is original to the gun. You will also find the sn under the forend iron. Or is there some other marking I’m not seeing in the pic? Cheers Jack

Interesting. The initials of the stock maker?

That’s what I thought, looks like a D or B and some other letter.

Here is another angle

I think Brian Dudley authored an article for Parker Pages on a stockmaker for Parker Brothers with those initials. Pearson T. Bannister.

...or maybe I’m misreading the initials. On my iPhone they don’t keep their resolution well.



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I’ll have to grab the wife’s camera and try for a close up, maybe some chalk will define it better.

looks like a D and an Iron cross or an X ? One of histories lost mysteries!!

It is PB. Pearson T. Bannister. Head stock maker for a time until his death in 1912. He was a life long employee of Parker. He is the only stock maker that I have observed to mark stocks that he made.

I did write an extensive Parker Pages article on Bannister a few years ago. It was a pretty big undertaking for me that was over a year and a half of work and research.

this topic coming up suggests to me that maybe all my work was for nothing. ?

Brian, Lots of new members.