Work Order Tag Examples
 

I'm going to post pictures of some of the interesting WOT's. The real small tags are from the early days at Parker Bros. and they are generally from the 1870's. The blue colored tags and the large tan tags, for the most part are from the 1920's and 1930's so they can't be referenced to the original Order Books since the Order Books ended in 1919.

Note that the second smallest tag is an 8 bore gun from 1877. Many of these small tags are very dirty and many can't be read. Also note that the pattern info is not there, just the generic chokes such as Full/Full.

The first picture is of the 4 types of tags we have.

Quite a few of the tags have additional information on the back of the tag, the large tag can contain a lot of handwritten information. This example if from the 1930's so there is no Order Book information to match to the tag. The Stock Book usually will not mention things other than the common options such as chamber length, vent rib, single trigger, and beavertail for-end. In this example the butt treatment was a Hawkins pad. If we had the Order Book for this gun, it would have shown a recoil pad was ordered. The Stock Book never mentions butt treatment so the assumption would be that the recoil pad was added and the skeleton butt removed. I guess if the Hawkins pad was still on, you may be able to guess that the pad was original if it matches the LOP.

That is wonderful "stuff!" Thanks, Chuck, for posting.

Very interesting stuff Chuck. Thank you!





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Interesting selection of WOT's Chuck. If I am reading these correctly I see a 32" GHE 20 ga and a 32" DHE 12 ga with a vent rib. Note the "RUSH" on the bottom of the WOT for the DHE ,makes me wonder who that one was for and also where these guns are now.

Both tags have "Rush" on them. The one one on the GHE is a little harder to locate. :)

I lost my focus when I read the gauge & barrel length.:)

I also note the number of times I see RUSH on the Fox order cards that are posted on their site. It's like those of us who want our guns back pronto after dropping them off at the gunsmith for work...or how we tap our toe waiting for a gun to be shipped from an auction.

DHE Trap
 

Look at that length on the DHE 12 gauge at 15-1/8''. He must have been a BIG boy.

How many Work Order Tags?
 

I could count the items in the list, but have not. It is easier to just ask: How many total WOTs were found and made it into the PGCA archives?

How many are still available at this time (an approximation is good)?

One of mine was on the list and I am very pleased to get the tag that I expect it carried through the factory. Having a WOT paired with its gun may be one of the rarest pieces of Parker Bros. ephemera that can be collected.

Has the information on the tags been recorded for future reference and study? If not, I will be glad to send a copy of my tag for the sake of research.