It appears that sears offered a discount close to 60% off retail with Read a little more. Couple this with the fact that the retailers were making a reasonable profit, I would say that Parker was selling at 50% to the larger retailers. Makes the direct orders look like not so good buys.
The thought occurred to me that I have never seen a gun lettered that was ordered by a catalog company like Sears. I believe I have seen a couple to Read. I suspect their sales when they occurred were likely basic level guns. I suppose most experienced or serious shooters paid the difference for the custom ordering. Either way, I think the catalog price looks to be better than the discounted prices quoted in most letters.
One other comment on the original picture. If you expand the picture, I suspect a lot of buyers of the hammer gun were pretty disappointed when they received their guns if they were looking at the picture provided.
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