Abe is among the best of the best.

Silvers type pads are my favorite. For some reason the vented type don't appeal to me and I wouldn't ever put a leather covered pad on an American double. That is just my weird idiosyncrasies!

The OP asked about the best “authentic” pad for a gun. I don't know why we are even discussing leather covered pads. It couldn't be farther from authentic.

Other pre-WWI pads included the D-W, Funkes, Huntley Shock Absorber (Omaha) and “Perkins” Recoil Pads (both advertised starting in 1915), Tryon #6, and the American Silver pad (sometimes called Grieb; possibly by the Ajax-Grieb Rubber Co.) - AFAIK no repros are available

The first Jostam Anti-flinch ad in Sporting Life was August 19, 1916

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...qNnHshpKQ/edit

CSMC's offerings
https://connecticutshotgun.co/recoil-pads/

“Glue on leather at end of recoil pad“ - looks like?
 

Comments above have made me question whether a leather pad could ever be a Parker Brothers factory original.

The letter for this CH Bernard suggests that a leather pad was indeed available (in 1905 at least). I am referring to the next to last sentence in the final paragraph.

Uncommon perhaps, but something involving leather on the pad was available.

http://parkerguns.org/forums/attachm...6&d=1625950340

Unrelated comment. Restating something I’ve said before. The PGCA discussion board has perhaps the only section selling items on the web where an abundance of information is available for reference.

Welcome aboard Danny. You may want to give some consideration to a leather faced pad versus a leather covered pad. Parker Brothers may have did leather covered pads, I am not sure. I do know that they did provide leather faced pads, at least I have been told this has appeared in research letters. I think they add a nice touch of class.

My double trap has a leather faced pad on it as noted in the letter. It does add a bit of class.

That would be a leather faced pad. Which was a common treatment for american silvers pads. It would be different than fully leather covered.

I don't know bout dat...

Here's Burt Spiller's VH 20 with a leather faced Silver's pad... class? Maybe when it was new.


.

They do look good when they are new. I have done a number of them.