Have any of you guys got your Parker Lettered?

[Armond Fish]

I am going to get my Parker Lettered and had a quick question.Does it say on the letter the name of the first person who bought the Parker?

[Rich Anderson]

Sometime it will but most likely it will tell you when and where it was shipped.

[Bill Murphy]

Order book entries usually tell about the original purchaser. Stock book entries do not. The last useful order book available to our researcher is dated 1919. Very few guns after 1919 can be provenanced by original owner.

[Dean Romig]

Armond, only four of my Parkers letter to an individual rather than a hardware or sporting goods store. Generally speaking only the higher grades will have records that identify the person for or by whom the Parker was purchased.

[Armond Fish]

Well I sent my letter form out this morning and will just hope for the best.Thanks for all your replies.

[Pete Lester]

Good luck with your letter, hope it reveals something interesting. I see your location is NH. Are you interested in joining us for a New Year's Day Parker shoot in Barrington?

[Armond Fish]

Good luck with your letter, hope it reveals something interesting. I see your location is NH. Are you interested in joining us for a New Year's Day Parker shoot in Barrington?

I would love to but this year I have to work. I am going to put in to have it off for 2012 so I can go next year. I work at a County Jail and I am the one that feeds the inmates. So I will see you there in 2012.

[Dave Suponski]

Great we look forward to seeing you in 2012! You might even have more than one Parker by then...:rolleyes: This Parker thing is catchy....:shock:

[Francis Morin]

One of my good neighbors is a County Deputy- road patrol- but he has told me of the hazards of working in a lock-up, no matter what area. I always recall the great line from the movie with Kevin Costner as Treasury Agent Ness trying to bust Al Capone (Robert Di Niro) and Sean Connery as the honest Chicago beat cop that helps him-- on the bridge at evening- "First rule of being a cop- always make sure you are alive at the end of your shift!"

The $40 to get a letter on your Parker is a sound investment- I did that for two 1904 era PH Parkers with Twist barrels, detailed the order entry, date shipped from Meriden and to which dealer that Parker went-

Welcome indeed to the PGCA, and congratulations on your first (but likely not last) Parker--:bigbye::bigbye:

[Mark Conrad]

Armond, I do the research letters. Most 0-2 grade guns do not have names attached. If a gun came back for repair the odds go way up. Repairs are only in the order books. The chances of a name being in the order do go up on the grade 4 guns or higher but I would say it is still less than 30 percent. Here is an article I wrote some time ago on what we have and What to Expect.

Mark

Research Letters- What to Expect

By Mark Conrad

The PGCA has copies of the original Parker Bros. Order Books, Stock Books and IBM cards that were used by Remington. This article will attempt to explain what you can expect from your research letter. The information we have varies greatly depending on the serial number range.

Order Books contain the date of the order, dealer, salesmen (if there is one), gauge, barrel length, grip, price, barrel steel and hammerless or hammer. The grade is not mentioned in most orders. The grade is determined by barrel steel and price. On special order guns, there may be additional information i.e. stock dimensions, chokes, extra barrels, ivory beads, pads and weight. The name of the customer may be in the order but not in all cases. Sometimes the gun is shipped directly to the customer and in that case the customer’s name and address will be in the order. A very small percentage of guns are special order. The Order Books run from No. 1 to No 101. Order Book 101 covers a time period through the 1920’s and the early 1930’s but it contains mostly credits and repairs. There are 5 missing books, 39, 49, 72, 83, and 93. It appears there was no Order book 39 since there is not a gap in the order numbers. We can not do a research letter from a credit or repair because the indicative information about the gun is left out. Order Book 100 ends in Nov 1919 with serial number 189,140. Guns that were ordered by the large dealers for inventory have your basic information, even on high grades. In the years between 1890 and 1910, there are many very large orders by the major dealers. There is one order by Simmons Hardware in St. Louis that has over 300 guns. The order is over 18 pages and there is just one line for each gun. The serial numbers in the Order books are random and the data base is needed to find a gun. There are 6 Order Books for just repairs. It is not uncommon on earlier guns to see them returned to Parker Bros. several times for adjustments or repairs. There is a BHE that went back to Parker several times and now has a replacement stock and replacement barrels. Replacement barrels may be of different steel than the original. Since the Order books end in December 31, 1919, we do not have any repair records after this date.

Stock books were used by Parker Bros. to record the work on each individual gun as it progressed through the manufacturing process. The gauge, grade, barrel length, stock dimensions, grip and options are in the stock book. The choke pattern information is in some of the stock books but not all. The page ends where the pattern information starts. The actual choke i.e. Modified or Full is not listed in the stock book, just the pattern information. An example would be 275 #7 pellets in a 30” circle @ 40 yards. The guns are listed in numerical order so a data base is not needed. Chamber length is listed in some cases. We have stock books 1-82 but there are 31 books missing in the middle. The last serial number in book 82 is 238934. This gun was completed January 24, 1936, and it is an SC Single Barrel Trap. A list of the stock books with the serial numbers they contain is in the Serialization book on pages 58 and 59. The missing books are also listed. For serial numbers between 189140 and 234,xxx the research will be done from the stock books unless we have an entry in Order Book 101 or a hang tag. Remember, that you are not going to get the information that is available in the Order Books.

The Remington IBM cards start in the 234,xxx range and end with 241,6xx. The cards have the grade, gauge, barrel length and date completed. They may have the options listed but not always. I have seen cards that do not list the options and the stock book does. Options are Parker SST, Vent Rib, extra barrels and Trap Forend. The card may also list the dealer but there is no address. I have also seen a few cards that indicate the gun is a skeet model. I have also seen skeet guns that are not listed as skeet on the IBM card. The card does not indicate the grip or butt configuration. I am frequently asked about a checkered butt or skeleton butt plate. This information is not listed. Letters done from the IBM cards will not contain stock dimensions, butt information, chokes or special requests. Very few have an individual’s name listed. There are no repairs in the IBM cards.

The new address in Virginia Beach is working well and the time needed to complete a letter has been reduced. Please remember to send a check for each letter request. This is a little extra trouble from your end but if a research letter can not be done on one of the guns requested, I will just mail the check back. The search function is also available to you on the new web site and it is very accurate. I have tried to give you information so you can make an informed decision on whether to purchase a research letter. The earlier guns, which are in both the Order and Stock books and may even have a repair recorded, will have more information than a later gun. Please send your request to PGCA at P.O. Box 5772, Virginia Beach, VA 23471.

[Armond Fish]

Thanks Mark for all that info.You should have my letter form in 4 to 5 days.Thanks again for the great post.

[Bruce Day]

DHE 20 entry page.

This is the Mrs Howard gun ( PP article) . Note that it was set up for a 2 dram 3/4 oz load.

Christmas present and had to be delivered early.

You can see how other entries were made. Most had only very basic information, but to me the historical record is always interesting even if it doesn't tell me more than I already know.

[Armond Fish]

Great we look forward to seeing you in 2012! You might even have more than one Parker by then...:rolleyes: This Parker thing is catchy....:shock:

I don't think I will have more than one Parker by next year. I am done getting guns for the next couple of years.My wife broke the bank when she got me this one.I am very happy and feel blessed just to have this special shotgun.

[Mark Landskov]

Wow! My 1877 $50.00 '0' Grade Lifter lettered to the original purchaser. Apparently, that is uncommon for the lowest grades. I am fortunate. It would be interesting to find out a little bit about the buyer. Cheers!