Parker D Grade Trigger Plate
 

Here's a picture of a friends shotgun circa 1891. I can't recall seeing any other grade 3's with waterfowl? Anyone else have D's with anything outside the norm?

Ducks are much less common than the flying turnips, but not rare. A member just brought over his newest acquisition, also a DHE, with flying ducks. Quail are also scarce.

I’m still haunted by a DHE 12 gauge that came into a local shop for an ejector problem that could not be fixed by the shop. The Gunsmith had deactivated the ejectors. Because the shop owner knew I liked Parker’s I was in the back and got to look at it for about 2 minutes when the owner came in the pick the Parker up. What bad timing. It by far was the nicest DHE I have ever seen. It had a Chiseled full strut gobbler on the bottom.
I should have spoken to the owner, but because I was in my friends shop I was hesitant. Damn I regret not speaking up.
The back story was the guy that brought it in had inherited 2 Parker’s and was was having problems with this one.
I’m bet the gun is still in Tucson.

The flying ducks Edgar spoke of. Clicking the image should enlarge it.

Thanks Edgar. Love to see a picture of them. Checked a couple of mine but all I could find were different interpretations of the flying turnips :)

That gobbler must have been amazing Phillip!

Those ducks are great!

Ducks and turnips are most often seen on Grade 2 Parkers.





.

Agreed.

All those ducks look better than the flying turnips on my DHE 16

Any idea who coined the phrase "Flying Turnips"?

I am not sure but I saw it here. I think it had to be 15 plus years ago. I found it quite funny and it really seemed to fit the ducks on my 12 GHE ! It sounded like a term Ed Muderlak might have coined though I cannot be sure if that is a certainty. Best, Paul
PS I do still like all of the Parker ducks.

You're right Paul - it was most definitely ol' EDM hisself.

In fact, I think he made that reference in his book "Parker Guns, The Old Reliable"




.

Let's not forget the "three dog" DHs. I'm partial to them. They seem to appear on very early hammerless D grade guns. This is from a 1 frame, 32 inch DH made in 1889. Of course, it's a Gordon Setter.

Are these the “flying turnips”, or in this case “standing turnips”? Thoughts on what game birds they were meant to be?

They look like walking clamshells.
Probably meant to be quail of some sort.

The term coined by the late Ed Muderlak, flying turnips, was made in reference to the exceptionally plump ducks in flight.






.

Dean:

I know we can’t interview these engravers. But what do you think was the thought-process behind these blueprinted “game-bird” designs?

Deliberate offbeat stylization; an artist’s quip; comic relief within the confines of a strict framework of manufacturing consistency and quality control?

The sometimes odd-looking birds we see are primarily on Grade 2 guns and where the engraving needed to be very simple and this work on these lower grades were necessarily done byvapprentices and journeymen in the field. No artistic impression was required or even necessary to a large degree.
Grade 3 Parkers are where we begin to see some very nice artistic expression which was necessary to depict more realistic dogs requiring the hand of more experienced engravers.






.

Guineafowl. Shoot them in your back yard when you get tired of their noise. As close as one can get. Someone had a photo of the wrong bird in front of them when they started engraving and like "lemmings off a cliff "everyone followed along. Maybe the first engraver of these looked out the window at a flock of them and thought good enough. Take a look! We call them Gennies here in the South.

Were guinea fowl ever a wild bird in this country?





.

Heath hens possibly?

Could be Heff. They became extinct in 1932 but had been an important game bird in coastal areas of Eastern North America.


.

AI seems to be the new buzzword (Artificial Intelligence), but it is, in fact, a term often used in the circles I associate with.
It's meaning, at least to us, is "Alcohol Inspired" I often look at these floorplates and wonder if there wasn't a small amount of that 'inspiration' behind the comical motif.

You may be right Edgar. I have heard such references about certain employees at Parker Bros. but the engraving department being less critical to the function and meticulous machining and fitting of the gun, may have been more prone to such activity… Who knows?





.

I can always depend on you to get to the meat and bones of any subject, cut to the chase as is said, bring it to a definitive conclusion. Could go on but you get the idea. The fact that humor is involved is an added plus.

I find this topic fascinating, both at the level of the stylized game birds and the engraving process itself. I have a GH Damascus 20 from the early 1920s on which you can see the ghost of the original transferred drawing and how far off the engraver was in following it. The templates were, I assume, done by an engraver of higher rank, but following the transferred outlines onto the gun itself was done by much less skilled engravers on the lower grades. Seeing something of the process left on the gun is a reminder of the human element that is a part of all of these wonderful guns.

If I can get a close-up picture of my GH, I'll post it. The engraver made the bird go from a plump, well fed bird, to a starving, thin one.

Dean,

No, not that I know of. They are an African bird in the wild and can fly well and domesticated here. But if they escaped and one could not catch them I'm sure more than a few were shot. They are the original alarm system in this country. They'll let you know when someone or something comes around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLcafDWO5Rc

I always thought geese were kept as an EWS (Early Warning System)


I did a little research on the origins of guinea fowl in America and learned the early Spanish explorers introduced them to the Americas in the 1500's but only as a domesticated food source.





.

Guineas are very noisy and don't attack like a lot of geese, messy but not as bad as big piles of goose crap everywhere, plus lots of eggs. And you'll never have to worry about ticks and any bug they can catch in your yard. I remember them from my childhood.

This tread had me sucked in and I couldn’t wait to get home and pull out both of my DHE’s that I just acquired a few weeks ago. The first is a 1907 DHE and it has flying turnip’s lol. A pointer on the left side and a 4 legged setter on the right side. The second DHE is a 1924 2 barrel set and it has what appears to be flying pheasants, pointer on the left and a 3 legged setter on the right. It’s fascinating how different the same grade Guns can be.

That second setter is in a classic point with her left front leg drawn up but still visible.





.

I see it now, I need stronger glasses.

The birds on one of my D guns look pretty good. Attachment 107738

Another not so good. What was this guy drinking? HahaAttachment 107739

Waterfowl on a Grade 3
 

There are two (2) rising ducks on this 12 ga. on # 2 frame, 30 inch 4 blade crolle Damascus, made in 1895.

Saw the engraving on this one at a local show. It was the most interesting aspect of this example. Tried but did not make a deal with the owner, so I do not have this one in hand to get better pictures.

The first picture is enhanced as much as I know how to do so the engraving might be easier to see. The second picture is not enhanced.

John, I can see three (3) ducks on the floor plate. I noticed it first in the enhanced photo and then was easier to see in the other. They all look as if they are in flight.

Good eye!
 

David, you have a good set of eyes. I want you in the blind so you can spot the greenheads coming in! I'll keep my head down and wait for you to call the shot.

To see the 3rd bird, I have to go to a big computer screen. My iPad could not cut it.

And I saw the engraver's work with my own eyes. :rotf:

How many do you see here?

https://www.scotsman.com/webimg/b25l...mart&width=640

The answer here:

https://www.scotsman.com/webimg/b25l...mart&width=640

http://https://www.scotsman.com/webi...mart&width=640

My first guess was 6 1/2. LOL !!

Ground bird w long tails ~ Phesants.

Ground birds w short tails ~ Heath Hens, Sharptails, Prairie Chickens.

Not poor engraving ~ Interpretive Early Americana artwork.

Ain’t it good to live here ! ?

Now ~ What do you thin Jefferson would have carried, a Parker or a Fox ?

����

My 2 Cents.

DH #63819
 

Great looking birds on this old gun. The Setter on the side is a bit worn but the feathering on the chest, stomach and tail is really cool. Attachment 108802Attachment 108801