Engraving the shield

[Steve Leffler]

I just bought a really sweet refinished 20 gauge VH. It has a straight stock and is beautiful. My plan is to hand it down to my son someday. I was thinking about getting the shield engraved so that 100 years from now hopefully my descendants will be remembering when the gun came into our family :). As the gun is refinished I wouldn't be "damaging" an original. What do others think? Have any of you done it? Who could do it if I decide to have it done and how much does it usually cost? Thanks for input.

[allen newell]

Steve, there are any number of competent engravers who can do this and any of the gunsmiths participating in the Forum can assist you. When I had DelGrego's rebuild my grandfather's 16 VH Parker, I had them engrave the shield with the 'N' for Newell and for the same reason as you wish to do. By the way, over the years and when Parker and/or Remington were servicing Parkers, many owners shipped their Parkers back to the factory for any number of re-work to be done, including re-stocking, upgrading etc. Don't feel you have to feel anything but proud to own a nice 20 ga Parker, refinished or not. Congrats. I'd like to find a nice 20 ga Parker original or not!