On your 20 gauge VHE - you should check the Griffin & Howe records of Parker shotguns that went through their house and Abercrombie & Fitch, as well as other houses. A PGCA Research Letter is absolutely your first step but the G&H records on these guns is almost always more complete. The problem there is that the G&H Historian who had all of the A&F records from which to create a research package, Bob Beach, has retired from that function and I don't know if the position has been filled.
It was a few years back that I published in Parker Pages all of the Parker serial numbers that G&H had records of. This list took a few pages of the magazine as I recall.
Parker Sales Rep A.W. duBray traveled the country going to trap and pigeon shoots promoting Parker guns. He would take orders from people he met at these shoots and forward them to Parker Bros. in Meriden. So yes, he ordered a great many guns for customers but only a scant few can be proven to have been his own guns for personal use.
Dean
.
__________________
"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.
|
Threaded Mode