How do you tell who engraved your Parker ?
 

I have a DHE serial number range 203xxx. The engraving on this gun is the most detailed that I have seen. The dogs and bird bodies are finely engraved. Did the factory engravers ( i.e. Runge ) sign their work and if so where ?

Generally speaking they did not.

May we see pictures of your D?

I wrote an article with all the known Parker engravers, the dates of their tenure, and approximate serial number ranges during which they worked for Parker. I had it stored in my second laptop.... which ate my article and never would allow me to access it before it gave up the ghost. That was how I learned my lesson about daily backups.






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Dean , I was looking at a C Grade Fox the other day and the engraving was almost exactly the same as my CHE Parker with the Quail on the receiver ,Runge we all decided ,did Runge engrave for Fox also ?

Can you show us pictures of both guns again Russ?





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Hello Dean , here is a pic. of my C Grade Parker 20 Gauge ,but sorry to say I didn't have a camera with me when I ran into the CE 20 Ga. Fox but it was a real beauty !

There's certainly no question about that being Robert Runge's work.





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Dean ,I apologize but I don't recall reading your article on engraving could you direct me to it please ? Thank You in advance ! :)

its lost in his second laptop - not published :crying:

Dean - did the hard drive actually crash- or the laptop just quit?

All of the above Rick.

The laptop suffered a massive failure. As a last resort I forcibly dissected it and removed the hard drive. I put the hard drive in a box made especially for the type of hard drive I had and remotely plugged it into my new laptop. I was unable to access any of the data on it. I still have the hard drive but have about given up on trying to retrieve anything from it.

So, yes, as Rick said, I never did publish it. I sent it to Austin to read over while he was still editor of Parker Pages and he thought it was something everybody could use.






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Have you taken it to a "Pro" like the Geek Squad?

Engravers
 

Hey Dean

I tried to get a good photo but without success. If you have the book from the last James Julia Auction it is item 3458....it is also viewable online.

I'm very happy with the gun. It was restocked in a beautiful piece of American walnut and fits me perfectly. Not original but a great gun that I can shoot well. The extra barrel fits perfectly and makes the gun very flexible.

In plain English, Geek Squad XXXXX..... Self-censored... I can't say that here. But I have had a few very unsatisfactory experiences with them. Thanks, but no thanks.




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Yes Joe, I have that Julias catalog.
There is no mention in their description of the gun that suggests it is a replacement stock that I read... what makes you think it is a replacement?





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Dean - Interesting. My experiences have been good. I'm sure there must be other computer whizzes in your area.

Yes John, I do have other options.





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Parker worked on a contractor basis for all their craftsmen for the majority of the manufacturing of the Parker gun.

Basically there was a chief engraver and he was responsible for setting the tone of work style, guidence and hiring of engravers under him in that department.

Generally speaking, Parker engravers did not sign their work. However, there are some examples of signed work on earlier high grade guns. It is more a case of where the engraving style of the guns followed a certain standard under each head contractor. It was the head engravers designs and style that was being executed, but done by other (sometimes multiple) underling craftsmen.
It is only in cases where the execution is top quality or above average (usually seen in the animals) that you can speculate that the head engraver may have cut that gun. Or in a lot of cases, the scroll may have been cut by underlings and the animals and scenes were mostly cut by the head contractor.

Everybody should have a copy of "The Parker Story."
Even the Chief Engraver's were 'independent contractors.' This fact is evident by the fact that many of the better known engraver's names are claimed by A.H. Fox, L.C. Smith, Lefever, Remington, Ithaca, Winchester, and others to have engraved some of their highest, most artistically engraved guns.





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Dean,
You are right avoid the Geek Squad and all other similar companies. They will destroy your data at no responsibility to themselves. Look for a cleaning room and send it to them. They typically only charge for data recovered. I have used one in California and Winnipeg Canada but it has been a while and I don't have the names of the companies.

I had the Geek squad look at a crashed hard drive and they scratched the drive so bad no data cold be rescued from it. I have kept the hard drive and hoping in the near future a cleaning room has better technology and can restore some of my lost data. Especially some of my published photos.

If you use a Mac, you will have no need for Geek Squad.