There should be serial numbers stamped on the reverse side of the hammers. That will satisfy your curiosity as to whether they are original to the gun.

Okay my Parker mentors, i removed the hammers this evening, and they each are stamped with the numeral 2,which is the last digit of the serial number, also the frame size, or I suppose could indicate a 2nd set of hammers. The style and size of the stamp is identical to the stamps on the forend iron, watertable and barrels. Thoughts?

I haven't seen hammers stamped with only one digit before. I have seen hammers with an X. I have no idea what the 2 might signify and I believe any suggestions would be nothing more than pure speculation as there is no documented answer to the question.

It is my firm belief that the gun would not have been originally fitted with the plain hammers it now wears but possibly, as has been suggested, may have been supplied as a spare or 'field' set. (Though I don't believe we have ever seen such a request in the stock books or order books. Of course, if a research letter doesn't support this hypothesis it too is no more than speculation.

If the gun were to be placed on consignment with a reputable auction house, such as James D. Julia's they could only describe them as "replacement hammers."






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I agree entirely. I will say that the fit of the hammers on the current posts is PERFECT. It took quite a bit of cajoling and tapping to get them off the posts. I guess i will begin the search fir a set that more closely matches the grade. I have never removed the stock from a parker hammer, is it just the one action bolt, the one top tang screw and the two trigger tang screws? Have ordered my frontier 45 pads, and have loads of ballistol and kroil on hand. Let the elbow grease begin!

I don't usually do this but this will show how difficult it is to interpret these early stock book entries. Here is Mark's gun entry in the stock book. I believe it was Gunther who edited these entries in red ink. He must have though the "D" was a "P" and elongated the stem of the "P" with red ink. Just to the right of the "D", he wrote in red ink what looks like a "5". If you zoom in, you can see what looks like a "2" and just below it what looks like a "5" in black ink. If it's a "2" it's equivalent to a "G" grade hammer gun, if it's a "5", it's equivalent to a "B" grade hammer gun. To my eyes, and others, it sure looks like a "D" grade hammer gun so where is the "3"? We all know that the engraving in this time frame varies a lot. Would a grade "2" have this much engraving and would a grade "5" have so little?

I was hoping that the barrel flat would have the number grade stamped in but I guess the gun is just to early for that. The only other way that would indicate it's a grade "4" or above would be to count the crolles in each band but with the condition of the barrels he may not be able to tell.

Let me know what you think.

Judging by the shape of the bolsters (sp?) I am sure it's above a grade 2. It's missing the small tip found on the bolsters found only grade 4 guns.

It looks like a solid grade 3 to me.

Chuck, looking at it enlarged and from a distance, it reads, to me at least, "D= 3.

To me it looks like it was originally written as a cursive D followed by a dash, then a 3- which would most likely have indicated a Damascus barreled Grade 3





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Thanks everyone for the input....interested to see the rest of the history of the gun. Will get a jewelers loupe out tonight and count crolles...

I have seen 3-iron crolle on Grades 2-4 and 4-iron crolle on Parkers ranging from Grades 3-5. The crolle number of Damascus barrels is not an indicator of the grade of the gun. It may at one time during the manufacture of Parker Bros. guns have been intended to be an indicator of grade but it certainly wasn't adhered to in the factory.





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