Were Parker shotguns made when ordered?
 

Or did they keep many in stock?

Yes.

both

shipped from stock - or made to order

it would depend on what was ordered - special features and higher grades could be ordered

Ok, I was just curious because according to the serial # chart, my 12 gauge GH #85571 would of been one of the last made in 1896, but my research letter shows it as being ordered December 24th 1897.

you will find guns shipped from stock to a dealer- returned for credit and shipped again later to another

the specs on your gun may have been a slow seller due to some spec - and sat on the shelf waiting for someone to need one

so - a customer walks into the gun shop- says he likes the GH they have but wants a different barrel length or weight and the order was placed and filled from stock

In some cases, research letters will show years between made date and sold date. I recall seeing a gun in later production that was in inventory for like 7 years or something.

Lower grades in common configuations were kept on hand as stock for fast order fulfillment.

I have a very unusual Parker that was made in 1908 and which sat in inventory until 1912 when it was used to fill an even more unusual order.






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Serial number chronologies are at best a close approximation and at worst just totally wrong. The Fox serial number chronology that Lightner Library put together back in the 1970s and is available various places on the internet is the latter.

Generally speaking, grades up to D (Quality 3) were routinely produced and inventoried to provide quicker turnaround for individual as well as 'bulk' orders. The higher the grade, the fewer were warehoused for obvious reasons of cost of production and individual gun specifications routinely ordered. Quality 4 guns (C grade) were generally produced only on specific order, although there are always exceptions, such as exposition guns made up specially for exhibits and samples taken on the road by salesmen such as DuBray, Stice and others.

The Quality 3 gun (D grade) was universally recognized as Parker's "break point" gun; that is, the profit realized from the sale of this grade made up for the expense of producing it and left a comfortable margin of profit at its offered selling price. The more expensive higher grades' return on costs of production fell off rapidly as the grades ascended, e.g., more expensive wood, stock carving and checkering, and extensive and more detailed engraving all combined to make delivery of the higher grade guns longer and more expensive to the maker.

Interesting. The only light shed on margins I am aware of is the report of the Remington auditor upon Remington's purchase of Parker. That purports to state that Parker lost money on all low grade guns until Grade D, where sales price overtook cost. According to that report, Parker in the 1930's only made money on high grade guns.

Are there other documents ?