Bruce, don't you have a high grade Parker with a wood duck on the floor plate - or a duck or two?...... or is that the Turnip Farmer's gun?





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Dean
Why do you ask? I have a high condition CHE 12ga with a large duck on the floor plate
David

I've seen that one David - I had CHE Trap No. 230760 with a flying goose on the floor plate. Should never have sold it.

Lousy pictures, I know.



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Dean
I don't shoot it,42 chokes in each barrel, and have been tempted , but am going to keep it.
David

Yes. I have a little C 20 with rondel side panels and a wood duck on the bottom. I'll take it quail hunting next week in the southern Great Plains thickets. If I can scrape the red dirt off I'll take some photos. We have a small group of toxic masculinity buddies headed off for some small sanctuary towns out on the windy plains where we will use weapons of destruction to miss small birds.

Good decision. That is a very high condition Trap gun.





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I hope I do not get accused of nitpicking, but I have a question about engraving on A grades. In the 1890s, the engraving was fine, detailed, and realistic. By the 1920s it was both. For example, the dog and bird on the floorplate of this gun is very fine and realistic. However, that is not true with the engraving on the sides of the frame. Much less detail as earlier guns and the figures seem rather clownish, for lack of a better word. This is not a criticism but rather an observation. Why didn't Parker engrave the frames with the same detail and realism by the 1920s?

I advise against generalizing. There are some fine engraving examples throughout Parker production and some not so fine. Certainly the very late Runge engraved guns are some of the best. Evaluate each gun on its own.

There was a stylistic trend toward more open and larger scroll as time went on. Some prefer that to the earlier tighter scroll as you see in the A that I posted. There are many outstanding high grades in the 1920s.

Engraving trends and styles were more often set by the head of the engraving department, or chief engraver and their tenures in that position often lasted between one and two decades. The higher grades were generally engraved to the styles he set. In The Parker Story we read that often the game scenes and animals were engraved by the chief engraver while the scroll and filigree was often done by engravers of a lesser stature. That being said however, there are Parkers that are known to have been entirely done by one master.





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I consider it more of sharing detailed observations.

Again, what a dull place it would be if every reply was simply "nice gun".

And did anyone say that it wasnt???