Leighton,

What is the barrel rib inscription? Does it say Damascus or Laminated or something else?

Leighton: I have SN 3481 and it looks identical to yours. The book says that it is a Grade T 12 ga. w/ 30 inch barrels marked "STUB TWIST" on the top rib. BTW the book says yours (SN3081) is a Grade L 12 ga. w/ 28 inch barrels.

Best Regards, George

Yep, that is why I asked about the barrel inscription, he has a 10 ga and the "book" has had errors. The inscription my help to ID the actual grade?

The T and the L are not grades. Those letters refer to Twist Steel and Laminated Steel. The Serialization Book does not identify grades in early guns except by barrel steel.

The John Hanson gun, B2505, pictured on page 234 of The Parker Story, is identified as "seems to be the $135 grade on the 1872 price list." has Damascus Steel barrels and is shown here as well from the pictures I took while dave Suponski and I visited with John in January of 2010.

Adding more mystery to early Parkers and their grading is on pg. 238 of TPS as Parker no. 4311 identified by the authors as "has Laminated Steel barrels and must be the top grade gun priced at $250 on the 1872 price list."
Oddly, later on when Parker Bros were using the number/letter grade we find that Damascus Steel barrels were used only from Grade 2 and up while Grade 1 guns sported Laminated Steel barrels and Grade 0 guns had Twist. One exception to this that we have noted is the "English Laminated" barrels have been observed on later lifter hammer gun higher grades such as Grade 4.
It is all pretty intense and difficult to nail down grades and the features which represent the grades. As has been stated before, 'sometimes the only way to grade an early Parker is by the price charged for a particular gun as noted in the books... and sometimes that is not good enough to make a clear identification as some guns were discounted and the 'list price" was not always noted but simply the sell price.'

Frank Cronin - what dollar grade value has been assigned to your wonderful early Parker?

The barrel is inscribed damascus and it appears to be three bar damascus

Nice gun, Leighton. Is this new to the collection, or one I have seen?

Tony

Dean, the research letter from Mark stated since it had Twist barrels it was either a grade 0 or grade 1. No dollar grade value designation was reported in the research letter. Austin Hogan who has seen the gun when at the Major Waldron shoot commented the serial numbers in the pre 5000 range had a nice selection of wood and though it is difficult to grade early guns he thought it may be a grade 1 since it did have some engraving.

As dollar grade value, I found this 1874 Parker price list. I am not sure if this document is the correct criteria to designate the appropriate dollar grade to my Parker. According to this it was a $75 dollar (reduced price) or a $110 (old price) since the lower grade 12 gauge ($60) had no checkering or engraving.

Thanks Frank. That is one very special Parker!