I think the OP was originally thinking that VH guns were first offered with Damascus barrels and then changed at some point to vulcan barrels, which is not the case.

VH Barrel Question
 

I appologize for not being clear on my question. I ask when where vulcan barrels first avalible on parker guns?

The Serialization Book will give you a "clue" if you check it out. 88220 seems to be the first V Grade entry in the SB. That is 1898. Maybe our historian will give us an idea of what the Order and Stock Books say about this "maybe first VH" gun. Or maybe not.

Thanks for that info bill.

Bill, here is some info "from the black hole".

The authors of TPH made a mistake, 88200 is not a VH, it's a DH. The first VH as far as we know was 87891. It was a 12ga. with 30" "Blk Bbl". The stock book lists this gun as a V0 and Titanic steel. The first VH with Vulcan barrels is 88105. The order book shows it as "Blk" for barrel steel, the stock book shows it as a V0 along with the word Black. According to order book 44, this gun was one of 50 VH's (all priced at $50) and were sent to the E.T. Allen Co of San Francisco CA in March 1898.

According to TPS, there were VH's made with Damascus steel. There is an order in 1916 from Iver Johnson in Boston for 10 guns, all 10ga. consecutively S/N'd starting with 173953 and listed as being sold for $25.00. VH's with Vulcan barrels normally sold for $41.50 at that time. The stock book shows this gun as a Dam Vul DV.