Richard, it's not an inside joke at all. The ducks engraved on the earlier hammer guns as well as the hammerless have been referred to as "flying turnips" because of their shape. I think it was Ed Muderlak who first coined the expression in his first book "Parker Guns, The Old Reliable" and it stuck. Yours are some of the finest flying turnips I have seen with the exception of some done on early Meriden Fire Arms guns. They were probably engraved by the same contractor as both Parker Bros. and Meriden Fire Arms were made in the same city.
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