Parker stock curiosity
 

Was curious if anyone has or has seen the extra little set of marks under the trigger guard tang?

If you refer to the serial number as the extra set of marks they are the best piece of info to prove the stock is original to the gun. You will also find the sn under the forend iron. Or is there some other marking I’m not seeing in the pic? Cheers Jack

Interesting. The initials of the stock maker?

That’s what I thought, looks like a D or B and some other letter.

Here is another angle

I think Brian Dudley authored an article for Parker Pages on a stockmaker for Parker Brothers with those initials. Pearson T. Bannister.

...or maybe I’m misreading the initials. On my iPhone they don’t keep their resolution well.



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I’ll have to grab the wife’s camera and try for a close up, maybe some chalk will define it better.

looks like a D and an Iron cross or an X ? One of histories lost mysteries!!

It is PB. Pearson T. Bannister. Head stock maker for a time until his death in 1912. He was a life long employee of Parker. He is the only stock maker that I have observed to mark stocks that he made.

I did write an extensive Parker Pages article on Bannister a few years ago. It was a pretty big undertaking for me that was over a year and a half of work and research.

this topic coming up suggests to me that maybe all my work was for nothing. ?

Brian, Lots of new members.

I wouldn’t say all for naught, you wrote an article in a very selective magazine, if I had access to it I never would have posed this question. I’m glad I did, I got my answer, and now know there is an article out there I can search for.

Far from it Brian. Your several articles, some not specifically about a gun but nevertheless very informative and educational, lend a great deal to our Parker knowledge base.

Dean

P.S. - All complete volumes of Parker Pages from the very first issue, Volume 1, Issue 1, right up to Volume 25, Issue 3 or 4, are available as a fabulous resource in the Parker Pages Digital Archive for only $50 in either a USB thumb drive or in a CD from Mike McKinney. Shoot Mike a PM and get yourselves an early Christmas gift.



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Brian, I have gotten ZZZZs on decades of internet posts and articles. It's a sign of the times, even among educated and interested readers. It doesn't mean that your "stuff" is unread, it only means that the readers are too lazy to respond. I, for one, will keep writing, even though a response is a dream in my own mind.

I had just observed that the join dates on the posters not knowing about the mark were before my writing of the piece.

I know that things will get regurgitated from time to time.