Parker D Grade Trigger Plate

[Dean Romig]

The sometimes odd-looking birds we see are primarily on Grade 2 guns and where the engraving needed to be very simple and this work on these lower grades were necessarily done byvapprentices and journeymen in the field. No artistic impression was required or even necessary to a large degree.
Grade 3 Parkers are where we begin to see some very nice artistic expression which was necessary to depict more realistic dogs requiring the hand of more experienced engravers.






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[Dean Romig]

Were guinea fowl ever a wild bird in this country?





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[J. A. EARLY]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

Were guinea fowl ever a wild bird in this country?
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Dean,

No, not that I know of. They are an African bird in the wild and can fly well and domesticated here. But if they escaped and one could not catch them I'm sure more than a few were shot. They are the original alarm system in this country. They'll let you know when someone or something comes around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLcafDWO5Rc

[Heff]

Heath hens possibly?

[Dean Romig]

Could be Heff. They became extinct in 1932 but had been an important game bird in coastal areas of Eastern North America.


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[Dean Romig]

You may be right Edgar. I have heard such references about certain employees at Parker Bros. but the engraving department being less critical to the function and meticulous machining and fitting of the gun, may have been more prone to such activity… Who knows?





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[Dean Romig]

I always thought geese were kept as an EWS (Early Warning System)


I did a little research on the origins of guinea fowl in America and learned the early Spanish explorers introduced them to the Americas in the 1500's but only as a domesticated food source.





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[J. A. EARLY]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

I always thought geese were kept as an EWS (Early Warning System)
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Guineas are very noisy and don't attack like a lot of geese, messy but not as bad as big piles of goose crap everywhere, plus lots of eggs. And you'll never have to worry about ticks and any bug they can catch in your yard. I remember them from my childhood.

[CCefalu]

This tread had me sucked in and I couldn’t wait to get home and pull out both of my DHE’s that I just acquired a few weeks ago. The first is a 1907 DHE and it has flying turnip’s lol. A pointer on the left side and a 4 legged setter on the right side. The second DHE is a 1924 2 barrel set and it has what appears to be flying pheasants, pointer on the left and a 3 legged setter on the right. It’s fascinating how different the same grade Guns can be.

[Dean Romig]

That second setter is in a classic point with her left front leg drawn up but still visible.





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