Parker Gun Letter Mystery

[Bill Murphy]

Hard to give information without a serial number. Could your gun be serial number 85813, 85954, 85966, or 87576? These are some of the 16 gauges displayed at the Boston Sportsman's Show, March 14 to March 26, 1898. There are hundreds, if not thousands of entries on google about the hardware company. Lucky you, a gun with great provenance.

[Dean Freeman]

Sorry, thought I had included it within my initial blatherings... It is Serial # 85966.

I looked up and found several ads for the show last night. The merchant that the gun was sold to, Janney Simple Hill & Co. was pretty large and a database with ledgers, accounts, and invoices exists. I may be able to uncover who the first owner was, or at least who purchased it.

Here are some photos...











Gotta love that figure on the stock. The wood has some love marks and normal use, but is still very much intact. The bbls shine like new but the left bbl has a dent which I may or may not have worked on. It fires my RST loads just fine. I know its a big bone on this forum, but i'd kinda like to have the bbls redone. This gun could be a real looker if the barrels were polished and the dam figure on full display. The checkering is fairly flat especially on the forend. The wood is outstanding though and if I'm going to the trouble, I would like to have a new finish. On the other hand, she's a damn fine beauty just the way she is. I'll try to post some pics with better light.

[Bill Murphy]

Yup, #85966 was one of the four grade 2 16 gauges at the Boston Sportsman's Show in 1898 according to The Parker Story.