Thanks for your kind words gentlemen. But as has been pointed out in the past, I'm not always right. I am still a student of the Parker in every respect but I try to help others out whenever I can.
The patina is all original except for the barrels. They have been very nicely refinished by Brad Bachelder after he did some masterful work on them. I shoot this gun often and it is in fact one of my Parkers that I shoot best.
The patina on the wood is about 125 years of mixed grime and oil, though there is no oil soaking anywhere. The butt plate is original - the checkering is original - the case color is original too so it is obvious that it was not abused..... but actually, it was.
Read about it in my article "Shot to Destruction" in the Autumn 2015 Issue beginning on page 45.
Incidentally Todd, yes those are what we call "lightening cuts" and are done on some of the smaller frame Parkers, both hammer and hammerless guns from the smallest 000-frames, the 00-frames, some of the 0-frame hammer guns but not all of them and there is a possibility of a very few 1-frame hammer guns with lightening cuts... and no, there is nothing on the barrel flats that fit into these grooves.
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"I'm a Setter man.
Not because I think they're better than the other breeds,
but because I'm a romantic - stuck on tradition - and to me, a Setter just "belongs" in the grouse picture."
George King, "That's Ruff", 2010 - a timeless classic.
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