Parker Bros Shell Casing

[edgarspencer]

I have many 12A and 10A brass shells, and those stamped "West Meriden" are clearly UMC. Those marked "Meriden have a diamond impressed in the raised circle. They are most likely also UMC. Brass drawing and forming was a somewhat specialized process, and not one likely to have been performed by Parker, themselves.
Perhaps there is some way to distinguish manufacturing time period by the use of 'West' and opposed to not including it. These are subjects for the more academic than I am.
I gave up pipe smoking about 6 or 7 years ago, after enjoying it for over 40 years. The reason this seemingly unrelated thought is included, is that I always carried wooden matches inside a match case made by sliding a 12A brass shell into a 10A shell. The same can be done with a 14A inside a 12, or a 16 inside a 12. This completes today's useless trivia lesson.