Chuck may chime in on this.

I personally have seen at least a half dozen that were so-modified.

But, as in the case of guns returned for one reason or another and Parker replaced or added the post-1910 bolt and plate as a standard course of business, there may be no records of the forend modification. But of course this was by request and not a standard customer service practice.





.

I have Austin Hogan's old lifter "Skeet gun", a #3 frame 32" 12 gauge mega-gun. It weighs around 9 pounds and is a high number gun, one of the last lifters. Austin installed a rubber comb riser that is still there and fits me just fine.

First picture is of the 12 & 16 a bit closer, the next pictures is of the bottom & trigger guard engraving on the 16. These 2 guns are within 200 in serial #’s, what do you think, same engraver?

Some very interesting and nice examples Thanks for the pictures. I do own one beautiful Parker O 8ga top lever, no underlevers.

Hello boys. Not a picture guy. However, 10 and 11. The 20 is a work in progress

lifters
 

Here is the factory letter. Chuck Bishop wrote me an e-mail later and said that the discounted price was probably due to a bulk sale to the hardware store that ordered it.

152

Stan - Your top gun in the first picture I believe was engraved by Gustauve Young. In any case I believed it was engraved by the same hand that engraved my 16 gauge Lifter No. 18719 but as I look at the years of his tenure at Parker Bros. I'm less sure of my original conviction. Certainly Glahn and Avery were talented enough to copy or imitate Young's somewhat unique signature style if they had admired it.

Take a look at this thread in which I explain his style of engraving.

http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthr...ighlight=18719

The lower gun I can't say without knowing the serial number but even then it would be an educated guess.





.

Dean,
I said that wrong, the 16 is serial #18570 and the 12 is 1 year earlier #16600.
My 10 is serial #16349 which puts them within 251 of each other.

I appreciate your knowledge.
Stan

Mike

Interesting letter for several reasons. I believe that explains the Deeley forend on a serial number that is a few years earlier. It is interesting that your gun was shipped just 6 days after order. The 1880 10 gauge I have was ordered and shipped in a few day period late in the year even though the serial number is sequential with guns ordered very early in the year and shipped significantly later. Also like yours, the order book shows that it was ordered as a Damascus gun but it actually shipped with Parker laminate barrels. That coupled with the significant number of D graded guns I have seen discussed that left the factory with Parker laminate barrels has led me to believe that they used the barrels interchangebly. The reason there aren't more examples would be that they just didn't make a lot of the Parker laminate barrrels.

It seems it may have been a common practice to stock completed actions and parts and then assemble guns quickly when an order came in. sometimes after many months or more. I find it telling that both our guns were sold as Damascus but finished very quickly with Laminated barrels at discount prices. My gun, which looks exactly like a $150 dollar grade was discounted $25. Maybe that's how they moved out the remaining Parker laminates.