Parker Gun letter question

[Jeremy Pinsly]

Hi,

I just acquired my first 2 Parkers and today joined the PGCA!

The gun I have a question about is a 1906 12 ga VH, serial 140569. This serial is not listed in the Parker Gun "Identification and Serialization" book.

How can I find out if records exist such that I can order a letter for the gun?

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The other gun is a salesman's model, a 1902 GH 16 ga 0 frame with beautiful wood stock and non-matching Damascus barrels. Truly a unique piece.

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[Bob Jurewicz]

Jeremy,
Go to the Home Page. On the left is a list. 5th down is Research Letters. Open and click HERE in search.
Welcome!!!
Bob Jurewicz

[Brian Dudley]

Great piece of wood on that GH.

[Steve Huffman]

The wood its setting on aint bad either !!!

[Scott Fox]

Very nice! Welcome & thanks for the photos!

[Rich Anderson]

What do you mean by non matching Damascus barrels? If your referring to the pattern in the barrels being different this isn't that uncommon in my experience.

Two fine looking Parkers for your first ones, your off and running now.

[Jeremy Pinsly]

Hi Rich, the barrels have very different patterns. I was told that a salesman's model would have different patterns so that potential customers could be shown the different damascus options available. Additionally, the wood is highly figured--I suspect probably above average for a GH, again to showcase the possibilities for a customer. I will take some pics tonight and post them.

As I'm new to the Parker world, I'm open to learn as much as I can about these pieces of history.

[Jeremy Pinsly]

Attached are pics showing the very different damascus patterns....iphone photography isn't my strong suit :)

Opinions gladly welcomed.


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[Bob Hayes]

Very nice, need to get them ready for this fall.Thats a unique find so is it serialed like a normal gun or special notations?

[Dean Romig]

I see what you mean about the tubes having different Damascus patterns. The right tube is definitely 4-iron crolle but it is difficult to determine the crolle count in the left tube. 4-iron crolle was rarely used on a grade-2 Parker. A research letter certainly won't give a clue about the mismatched tubes.

[Jeremy Pinsly]

I checked the barrel flats this morning. They are stamped as follows:

34723

3 lb 3 oz, D=Damascus. Does the 4 indicate grade? What about the C?

I thought a GH should be a grade 2.

[Bob Hayes]

Yes it is a grade 4 just found one my self.Looking back at your other pictures hinted at that.Real nice gun congratulations.

[Bruce Day]

I have seen dozens of Quality G guns with mismatched Damascus tubes, an occasional one in a D and none in a higher grade. Mismatched tubes are interesting to some and to be avoided by others. Many photos have been posted here of such specimens. I know of no justification other than baseless speculation that they are salesmens samples. None of the known sales and exhibition sample guns have tube mismatching. Still it's an interesting yarn.

Some Gs also had wonderful wood and we have shown photos here before of such guns.

Welcome to the world of Parker's. May I suggest The Parker Story ?

If a research letter is available that will tell you if it was made for a salesman by name such as Dubray.

[Dean Romig]

It is definitely a grade 2 gun, Not a grade 4. The 4 stamped on the right barrel flat may indicate 4 iron crolle.

[John Gardner]

Nice guns Jeremy. I like the Damascus G's and you've sort of got a two-in-one with those barrels. Neat! The wood is great. As Bruce said, a lot of G's have nice wood and your's seems very, very, nice.

Anybody got any ideas why G's can come with such great wood? It's like the wood used skips over a grade or two or three on some of these G guns.

[Robin Lewis]

Anybody got any ideas why G's can come with such great wood? It's like the wood used skips over a grade or two or three on some of these G guns.

I have noted that the GH guns that I took a close look at had stocks made of wood that showed better on one side than the other. I suspect that the wood wasn't good enough for use on higher grade guns because of this inconsistency but was too nice for lower grades. GH guns where a transition from low to high grade and would accept these irregular wood grains. Thus, some very nice wood ended up on GH guns, even if one side was different from the other.

[Scott Fox]

Jeremy, any chance you could post more photos of the GH wood? Thanks

[Greg Baehman]

Anybody got any ideas why G's can come with such great wood? It's like the wood used skips over a grade or two or three on some of these G guns.
I always thought the reason you frequently see higher figured wood used on GH guns was because Parker Bros. utilized less costly American Black Walnut for them, whereas in the ascending grades Parker Bros. utilized higher cost European thin shell Walnut for their stock wood. Grade-for-grade American Black Walnut is, by nature, more highly figured than European thin shell Walnut.

[Jeremy Pinsly]

I'll post some more pics of the wood tonight.

[Bill Murphy]

Greg is right. If PB had any American Walnut (juglans nigra) with obvious figure, the G Grade guns were the highest grade they could use it on. It was "Put it on a G Grade or burn it in the stove."

[Jeremy Pinsly]

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[Scott Fox]

Wow, that is beautiful! What a great stock. Thanks for the photos!

[Steve Huffman]

I am by means no expert on this but could this be a restock looking at the checkering is why I ask .

[Destry L. Hoffard]

I thought that myself. Be curious to see what's under the tang......

Could just be that the checking was recut when the refinish was done.


DLH

[Jeremy Pinsly]

DLH--what should I be looking for under the tang?

[Destry L. Hoffard]

If you've got the original stock on the gun still, the serial number will be stamped into the wood under the tang.

DLH

[Rich Anderson]

The serial number could be there even if it was restocked, not a hard thing to add. Russ Bickel restocked a CHE 20 for me and redid the serial number.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Russ Bickel also had gone to the trouble to special order a set of number stamps that matched the Parker ones. Not many gunsmiths have or had his attention to detail. He was absolutely the only one I ever saw who could stock a Parker or a Fox and have you wondering if it was original or not. I doubt there will be another to equal him in the woodwork department for a long time, if ever.......


Destry