V Grade Colors

[Bruce Day]

Parker small bore V's show case colors well. Original case colors are not heavy, not gaudy, somewhat translucent. Triggers are also case colored. This, a 1915 gun.

[Dean Romig]

Nice V Bruce, yours?

[John Dallas]

On an unmolested gun, will the colors have faded after a hundred years, or is this the way it left the factory?

[Richard Flanders]

Nice gun! Love colors like that.

[Dean Romig]

"Unmolested" is the key word. It has obviously been used, cleaned, wiped down, etc. but well cared for and is in high condition. Through use, handling and cleaning/wiping it will have lost some of the original color but not much. There are other examples of unused Parkers in collections where the colors are 100% or at least 99.9%.

[Bruce Day]

Dean, yes.

John, the colors usually fade somewhat and are more vibrant when fresh. Some believe that UV light causes colors to fade, others dispute that. However, there are some guns that the colors remain vibrant. There is almost always some edge wear from just handling the gun. Even on the freshest of old Parker case colors, there is a translucence, so heavy, painted on looking case colors are inconsistant with way Parker did it. And the tiger striped case colors are also not consistant if one is striving for an original look. And then there are the torch and oil techniques such as a recent hammer poster is well known for doing. Those do not harden anything, can anneal the frame in spots, quickly wear off, and do not look original. The best one can say for those is that they temporarily add color.

[Bruce Day]

In the interests of Parker collecting and preservation, readers might find these photos interesting.

The first is a repeat of the original case color Parker above with slightly faded colors.

The second is an internet gun for sale advertised as "very professionally reblued" . Presumably before rebluing and gunsmithing, it was a silver frame gun.

[Peter Clark]

Here are some shots of colors on two 12 ga transition era V grades. I see the translucent qualities Bruce mentions. But wait, there's more coming!
(plus I got a swell new camera)

[Dave Suponski]

Outstanding guns Peter! Congratulations

[Peter Clark]

Here are the forends on those V grades where the colors are well protected. Note how much darker they appear having been in hiding for 75 years. But what's that in the middle? It looks like a forend off a reproduction on which somebody pretty well matched the original colors, at least on a Remington era gun.

[Peter Clark]

As Rod Serling used to say, "Submitted for your approval" here is one of the Vs and my 20 ga reproduction, as redone by Mr. Bachelder, cheek by jowl with the real McCoy. You be the judge but by George I think he's got it. At least I am happy and my other two are in his shop as I type this. :)

[Austin W Hogan]

My own theory on color loss is quite simple. Guns that retain color inside, but are near silver outside, were wiped down with anti rust oils.

Best, Austin

[Eric Eis]

You know Austin I had heard that before too and I also heard that Hoppes 9
was also bad for case colors, not sure if it is true but.....

[Bruce Day]

In keeping with a recent thread, return to top. Correct case colors are a recurring issue for those who are concerned about originality or restoration to original colors.

[Justin Julian]

Had I viewed the V grade pictured in the opening post in person, I would have incorrectly concluded that the colors were not original and passed on it, assuming it were priced as an original. I have never seen a Parker with case coloring on the triggers, even the protected areas inside the frame. That would have led me to believe that the case coloring was not legit, especially considering the somewhat spotty color pattern on the belly of the frame.

[Bob Jurewicz]

VH 16 1926

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j106/Bobguns/P1260174_zpsf82c7409.jpg (http://s78.photobucket.com/user/Bobguns/media/P1260174_zpsf82c7409.jpg.html)

[Channing Will]

Had I viewed the V grade pictured in the opening post in person, I would have incorrectly concluded that the colors were not original and passed on it, assuming it were priced as an original. I have never seen a Parker with case coloring on the triggers, even the protected areas inside the frame. That would have led me to believe that the case coloring was not legit, especially considering the somewhat spotty color pattern on the belly of the frame.

It might just be the light but I dont believe there are any case colors on those triggers. I am with you Justin, I have never seen color case hardened triggers except for aftermarket single triggers. The Parker Story might point out a few occurrences on high grade customs but the majority of those were usually high polish, plated triggers. Most triggers are well used so the only way to tell if they were color case hardened is to pull the bottom plate off and examine the hidden portions of the trigger like the blades.

If I remember correctly the Parker Story describes the factory heat treatment process for small parts like triggers but it isnt traditional color case hardening. I thought it was more or less heating up the parts on an old hand file followed with a quench in whale oil. This process would have also given the components a dark finish similar to bluing, although not as durable. On a lower grade production gun I would imagine this would have been "good enough" to get shipped out the door at the time.

Just like today - time was money in those days and if I had to guess the factory probably didnt encourage extra time being spent on the repolishing and charcoal bluing of these small parts after the heat treatment was done, especially not on lower grade standard production guns.

[Bruce Day]

It doesn't take much use for the colors on the triggers to wear off. This is a new in the box Trojan. Middle and high grade guns had nickel plated triggers, very high grades sometimes gold plated.

[Justin Julian]

That's very interesting...the better restoration artists like Turnbull and Brad B take great pride in returning Parkers to original factory condition in every minute detail, but I can not recall ever seeing one of their restorations with case colored triggers. They are always either blued or polished to a silver color.

[Bruce Day]

The issue is whether the lower grade triggers are blued or are they case colored. They are dark. I'll check TPS.

On small parts, bluing and case colors look almost alike and when worn, I can't tell.