Grade 6 Lifter

[Jay Oliver]

I was looking up something in Serialization book yesterday and when I saw the lifter on the back I thought it looked like the one in this thread(but didn't think it was the same one). That is too cool!

All the better you found at a local gun show. That is a Parker to be proud of and you can always describe it as the "Parker featured on the back of the Serialization book" which just sounds like it would be fun to say...

Edit: Now that I think about it, I was going to check to see if was the same gun, but the check/hook barrels below it through me off and I thought it was a later gun, that doesn't make sense now, given the offset firing pins on this lifter, those are just a different set of barrels

[Dean Weber]

Details from the letter Chuck provided.

Parker shotgun, serial number 13731, was ordered by E.S. Chapin of W. 48th St. NY on November 18, 1878 and shipped on April 29, 1879. According to Parker Bros. Order Book No. 4, it was a $300 Dollar Grade, Lifter Action Hammer Gun, 10-gauge. It featured Damascus steel barrels with a length of 30 inches. Also ordered were a pair of 12/30” Laminated steel barrels at a price of $100.00. The stock configuration was a pistol grip. The requested weight was 8 ½ to 9 pounds. Special instructions were straight rib, finest stock can get, and target 180. Also ordered was 1 leather case. The order was placed by C.E.P.

The price was $300.00 plus $100 for extra barrels plus $12.00 for leather case.

According to Parker Bros. Order Book No. 33, the gun was returned on January 20, 1893 by A.H. Smith of Stamford, CT to fit new frame and stock. The price was $30.00.

[Dean Romig]

Great provenance, and it answeres many questions. Would love to have seen the original “finest can get” stock though.





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[ArtS]

Originally Posted by Dean Weber

Details from the letter Chuck provided.

Parker shotgun, serial number 13731, was ordered by E.S. Chapin of W. 48th St. NY on November 18, 1878 and shipped on April 29, 1879. According to Parker Bros. Order Book No. 4, it was a $300 Dollar Grade, Lifter Action Hammer Gun, 10-gauge. It featured Damascus steel barrels with a length of 30 inches. Also ordered were a pair of 12/30” Laminated steel barrels at a price of $100.00. The stock configuration was a pistol grip. The requested weight was 8 ½ to 9 pounds. Special instructions were straight rib, finest stock can get, and target 180. Also ordered was 1 leather case. The order was placed by C.E.P.

The price was $300.00 plus $100 for extra barrels plus $12.00 for leather case.

According to Parker Bros. Order Book No. 33, the gun was returned on January 20, 1893 by A.H. Smith of Stamford, CT to fit new frame and stock. The price was $30.00.

That clears up the barrel/grade question.
"....to fit new frame and stock. The price is $30. ..."

That's quite a repair and quite a price! Makes you wonder if there is another one with Damascus barrels and a finest stock out there somewhere.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Arthur Shaffer

That clears up the barrel/grade question.
"....to fit new frame and stock. The price is $30. ..."

I don't see what that clears up... We've seen Parker-made Laminated Steel barrels on Grades 1 through 6... but far fewer in Grades 5 and 6, but they do exist.





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[ArtS]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

I don't see what that clears up... We've seen Parker-made Laminated Steel barrels on Grades 1 through 6... but far fewer in Grades 5 and 6, but they do exist.





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Dean
Maybe your previous response that the letter cleared up a lot of questions is more accurate. It answers the question asto haow this Damascus gun ended up with a set of 12 gauge Parker laminate barrels. We know there are multiple examples of higher grade Damascus guns fitted with Parrker laminate barrels. What we don't know is why this would be true. I believe that if someone during that period ordered a graded damascus gun and they installed twist barrels instead, there would have been a problem.

One thing I do find really interesting is that 10 years later, a different owner ordered a new stock and frame for the gun and it was built for $30. I have a hard time believing that a grade 6 frame and stock was made and sold for that price. That's 1/2 of a $300 grade shotgun for $30.

It is possible that there was some damage or mechanical failure amd this was a form of low cost warranty settlement with the Laminate barrels being the operable or favorite set. It is possible the original stock and action were lost and only the barrels remained. Another very likely scenario, however, is that the original 12 gauge barrels had their own forend due to being a different gauge. Either the person who owned the original gun at that point or a person who had obtained the original 10 gauge barrels and forend may have ordered a new action and stock and ended up with a second complete gun. This may have been a plain action which would explain the pricing.

It is entirely possible that there is a mystery 10 gauge damascus floating around out there with the same serial number if the new frame was sold as a replacement.

[Dean Romig]

Whereas this gun is one of the first with the radiused water table / breech face, it can easily be argued that the gun may have originally had a frame with the 87 degree, or 93 degree (depending on which side you’re measuring from) angle at that juncture, and it was returned because it had cracked, it seems by charging only $30 Parker showed good faith and was willing to accept responsibility, or at least some of it (pro-rated?)






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[Pa SxS]

I don't usually show an image from the order books but in this case I wanted to show the wording in the order book entry. The order was placed in 1893. It's not uncommon to see marks obscuring words or numbers but in this case you can clearly see the word was "New".

[Dean Romig]

Further Art, I don’t think there were any mistakes made in fitting the Parker-made Laminated Steel barrels at all. The mistake, IMO, was in the lack of communication between departments and to the scribes who recorded that info into the books. As I recall, I have never seen a Parker Lifter with Parker-made Laminated Steel barrels whose rib was marked Damascus Steel. If anyone has pictures of such a gun I would love to see it.
There are (and likely were) aficionados of Parker guns who believe Damascus is “prettier” than Laminated Steel and there are/were those who think Laminated Steel is prettier.

We could discuss the “maybe’s” forever but without the actual documentation these are all just opinions… mine included. But more than anything, we must remain open-minded.





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[Dean Weber]

Appreciate all the forensic work here. It is fortunate we have a good bit of information to surmise all the variables. The empirical evidence is that the gun was ordered with 12 gauge, Laminated barrels. Therefore it is not a mistake, but rather a function of the order of the 2 barrels being documented in the order. Parker very well could have documented it as a 12 gauge with an extra set of 10 gauge barrels. Maybe they always list the higher gauge first.

I find it a bit humorous that the original order book details special instruction details to the level of "finest can get". Yet.....the later order book just says "slap a new frame and stock on it". I suspect there were more instructions to Parker as to what the customer wanted besides what Chuck is able to see in the subsequent order. Just a curiosity.

I believe the scenario Dean Romig has suggested as very plausible. Maybe I should check to see if there is a note in the leather case.............