Drew,
The early Parkers were made of various qualities but were not graded. From 1869 through 1875 they didn't have the grades assigned as we are familiar with today. I believe it was "The Parker Story" that first tried to describe them by the asking price of the gun... thus "The Dollar Grades".
This is NOT easy to do because of discounts and variations from one gun to the next often seem upside down, meaning nicer guns priced lower than a less elaborate gun? Parkers with serial numbers lower than approximately 4500 will be "Dollar Grade" guns and not stamped with the familiar number grading system.
It can get confusing when comparing those guns.
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