Ok, letter says original owner was Hugh Mallet of Bradford, I'll. Confirms D4 with 32" barrels with Silvers pad and Lyman sights. Later return for restock by Allen Hol. Letter doesn't mention pad for restock.

Can anyone help me with following questions:

Were Mallet or Hol known trap shooters?

Would the factory have installed a Redhead pad during restock in 1915?

Thx, Ray

Far as I ever knew, Redheads were never factory with Parker guns. Just have a Silvers put back on it, the new ones are exactly like the old ones.

Destry

Red Head pads were factory equipment on some Montgomery Ward marketed Stevens doubles. I was so close to ripping the Red Head pad from my minty little Ward's .410 until I saw the pad listed as standard equipment in a Ward's catalog. Whew, that was close. I bought that great little gun from a retail store that is the closest gun store to my house.

Ray, Hugh Mallett shot a little around the time the gun was made, but only a couple of hundred Interstate birds a year. What is the location of Mr. Hol who had the gun restocked? He was not an Illinois shooter. If the researcher left that information out of the letter, maybe you could give him a call. By the way, if I owned the CHE, I would have my first consecutive numbered pair in fifty years of collecting Parkers. I own a great little 28" GHE, #159,916 that was factory restocked in English Walnut with skeleton butt. It is only the second G Grade with skeleton butt I have seen. Let us know how you like the CHE. I will take it if you don't like it.

You mean there are somebody else besides me and Scott K. doing that? :rotf:

Bill

Allen Hol was from Castleton, I'll according to the letter.

Best, Ray

Bill I have a GHE 16 0 frame with a skelton butt.

I would get one of the best wood restorers fix the pinned area and recut the checkering, put a Silvers pad on it and be good to go to the Vintager's with the best of the others. On Pineland Plantation near Albany Ga., I saw Mr. Peter Burrell, with his straight stocked Purdy 20 with a broken wrist held together with Duct tape just keep on shooting till the end of Quail season. The next year he was shooting the same gun repaired and you could not tell it had been broken.

PDD

Many have suggested here and in PMs that the stock should be repaired at the pin and then recheckered. I wonder that advantage? The repair is sound and I'd have no problem shooting it just the way it is. I've always liked the "survivor" look and thought a new looking stock on an old gun looked funny. My fear is that once I got started I'd end up restoring the whole gun.
I'm not going to keep this gun but I ask these questions here because I have an AH in similar condition I've thought about restoring. The only difference is that the AH doesn't have a broken stock. Otherwise, it has the same wear with no CCH left, damascus barrels worn, etc. Is it really worth spending all that cash to restore?

Best, Ray

No, it would ruin it.

Bill

No, it would ruin the AH to restore it or no, it would ruin the CHE to refinish stock, or both?

Best-Ray

Ray, I was actually referring to the AH. However, if I owned the CHE, I would only partially recut the checkering and leave the rest alone. That's just what I normally do. Most of my shooting guns are in original finish with very little cleaning up. My little GHE that is consecutive serial number to your CHE is unrestored with a Keith Kearcher Damascus finish that is quite dark in keeping with the original look of a field used gun.

Bill: could you post a pic of the Kearcher dark damascus to compare with essentially unused or like new damascus restorations. Thanks, Jack

There we go with the pictures again. Some day.

Some day works for me. as long as it's not a Fogerty (CCR) some day. :eek:

I like the idea of barrels with a color that doesn't outshine the rest of the gun's overall look. For my old eyes, barrels brought back to "new" do look out of place if the rest of the gun is not brought back as well.

Bill, Richard Anderson, alias C.O.B., has posted some very good instructions on photo posting. It you can't find the post you should PM him.

I'm with Tarnation in that new looking barrels on an old gun looks funny.

Bill, is this darker, used look a finish that can be specifically requested?

Thx, Ray

Brown is what KK does.

Does anyone refinish old Parkers to a "antique" look. Years ago I collected Sharps rifles. I remember Shiloh made a reproduction that looked 100 years old. Not beat up but used. It was very cool because it looked so authentic. For example, stock finish not perfect with some wear to checking.

This gun might look great that way but no gunsmiths seem to promote this type of work.
Does anyone do it?

Thx, Ray

My gunsmith is Brad Bachelder who will refinish to whatever look one desires.

I have a favorite #2 frame EH 10 gauge that I take in duck boats. That is a harsh environment for any gun. The EH had a bolt through the head of the head of the stock that I had Jerry Andrews remove and hide the work. Brad re-case hardened the gun and restored the barrels so that the gun looks far-from-new. The case colors and barrels are softer than the total restorations he has done for me.

Making Damascus barrels "pop" with high contrasting black and white requires more work than does an antique look. The important thing to remember is that the gunsmith needs to understand what you want since refinishing Damascus is somewhat subjective. Make certain that what you want is written on the work order. Provide a photo of the desired product if available.

Another point that I learned about restorations is that Parkers’ case colors varied by production period (of years). If you really like case colors of a Parker made in 1911 and provide the gunsmith a Parker from 1890 and ask for authentic colors, the result probably won't match those of the 1911 gun. If however you want colors to match the 1911 gun, ask the smith if he can do so. Some gunsmiths have discovered or developed specific formulas and processes for the different periods of case colors and refinishing Damascus, twist, and laminate barrels.

Talk to the gunsmith and ask him if he can reproduce the finish that you want. Provide a photo if possible.

Mark

Ok, now I need an education on Silver's pads. They come in red or orange as shown in photo. Which would be correct color for this gun? Thx, Ray

I believe the red Silver's pad wasn't available until 1905. Since your gun was restocked and a pad added in 1915, according to your post, the red one would be fine.

There was discussion on this once before so you can search the archives to make sure my dates are accurate.-- but I think I am close.

Plus I think the red one looks nicer.

I agree with Stub, the red is the way to go. The orange ones, till they age up a bit, look just awful.

DLH

Did some brief research on original owner, Hugh Mallet of Bradford, IL. His was born in 1875 in Stark Cty. Became a talented harness maker and eventually became a partner in the Jim Dandy Collar Co, which was very successful through the 1920s. Didn't find anything about his trapshooting career but Bill Murphy says he shoot a few. Having ordered a CHE with 32" damascus barrels, straight stock, ivory sights, Silver's pad, he knew what he wanted and had some resources. What is interesting to me is the damascus barrels ordered (1912) at a time when steel barrels had become the rage.

Happy New Year to all.

Ray

Not to hi-jack the thread but today I was fortunate enough to handle a 1928 VH that letters with Damascus barrels. A really sweet Parker.

Could you tell me the serial on the Damascus VH?

Dean, why do you think some buyers still wanted damascus barrels well after steel became the standard?

Bill, it is 227XXX. I only put the X's there because I don't recall those last three digits.

It letters as having gone back to Meriden to be fitted with the Damascus barrels from a G-grade number of 150XXX or something like that.

Ray, I'm sure a great many shooters 'of the day' were quite comfortable with Damascus barrels and appreciated the intricate pattern of those composite tubes.

Edited 9:06 PM

Seriously, because fluid steel barrels are rather drab compared to the beautiful pattern of Damascus or even Twist tubes, especially when they were new.

In the early 20th century if one had a choice between fluid and damascus on a Parker, for pure asthetics you would have to have been a fool to buy fluid steel.

But shooters were overloaded with hype from manufacturers of both the guns and the ammo companies that fluid steel barrels were safer to shoot with the new smokeless powders, hence the bad rap Damascus and Twist has received ere to this day.

I believe if you open Parker Pages to "Parker's Found", you will find the serial number. It is a wonderful late DAM Parker and the current owner has every right to be justly proud of it.

What a wonderful Parker, as Dean notes...

John