Here's my only WOT, writing on back but can't make it out.

James, it reads "marked 3-5 weighs 3-4. Talking about barrel weight. Many tags, especially the early small tags list the weight. What is your struck and unstruck barrel weight?

Thanks Chuck, sorry can't give you that info ,the gun was sent back for new or extra barrel and forearm. The barrel and forearm I have are marked " 2 " with a Remington code of " DE3 " sept. 1936. The barrel I have is marked 3 -7 & weight is 3lb 1.1 oz .The barrel I have is 30" like the original.

John, I can't be exact. From data in the Excel spreadsheet there are a total of 1,285 serial numbers listed for Work Order Tags. There are some WOT's listed that belong to a few members of the PGCA and I don't have posession of them but are listed in the spreadsheet. If I get a hit on one of these privately owned tags, I contact that person and ask them if they are willing to sell them. Yes or No, I let the person know if they can buy the tags.

Many of the real small tags (as seen in the first picture) are either so dirty or faded that the S/N can't be made out but I'd guess there are a few hundred of these so add these to the total tags. Since all searches in the spreadsheet are by S/N and nothing else, they are useless except if the Order # can be read on the bottom of the tag and we have the Order Book that has that Order #, then I can find the S/N for that tag. Lots of work to do this!!! How many are still available? Most are. I probably only get requests for WOT's less than 5 or 10 per year.

Not all WOT's have comments on the back of the tag. The chance is better on the higher grades. The WOT's have not been researched or collated, I don't know how much good it would do. If I find a WOT is available when requesting a research letter, I let that person know it's available and I also include any additional information on the WOT not found in the Order or Stock book in the research letter.

I wonder if a shop that specializes in cleaning paintings and historic documents could clean some of these dirty tags...?





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There is different penmanship on the tags. Cursive writing, printing, and different colored ink. Did the WOT stay with the gun during the whole assembly process and then marked after each inspection along assembly process? I'm sure that additional notes were probably added when it finally arrived at the dealer.

A trained paper conservator can do remarkable things. It costs a great deal to do it right, probably more than most would want to pay. Beware of do-it-yourselfers if you care about the artifact.

Here is a picture of how the Work Order Tags are stored. It's easy to find tags in the 2 large binders, the database will tell me which book and page number to go to. The database will tell me which smaller binder to look in but there is no page number so I have to go through all the pages. Of course it's usually in one of the last pages! The tags in the zip lock baggies will be in the database if the S/N can be read. I've not had anyone order a small tag. More on the small tags in my next post.

I took a picture of 8 of the real old tags from the yellow zip lock bag in the previous post. These tags are extremely fragile, they are hard and can break real easily. As you can see, they are very dirty and most of the information was written in pencil and faded over time. Note that you can read some of the information on the back of the tags.

I think I may start to identify those tags that the S/N can't be read but the order # can be read found at the bottom of the tag. If we have the Order Book with that Order # in it, I can match the info on the tag with the Order Book entry and I'll know the S/N. This would be a real big and time consuming project but interesting to do. We'll see.

Gosh, if I was closer I'd volunteer to be your intern and take this project on. It sounds like it would be a valuable undertaking. You might consider contacting a local college or university. An upper level student needing to fulfill a practicum or internship in library science or other field that trains archivists might be just what you need. You direct the work, they get the valuable hands-on experience.