Parker Lifter Grade 5?

[Bruce P Bruner]

I have permission to illustrate and discuss this second year 1874 10 gauge, 30" Parker Lifter from the owner. Serial number 6040, listed in Price & Fjestad as Grade PS. There is certainly a mixup somewhere. The grade in my estimation would be at least a $250. grade. There is a "5" stamped on the underside of one barrel, photos to follow. The gun is a very interesting one to me, not necessarily what I deem high condition though exceedingly rare. Discuss...

[Bruce P Bruner]

Additional photos.

[Bruce P Bruner]

I didn't include the water table, nothing of note there.The detail of the engraving on the hammers is really exceptional.

[Kirk Potter]

God, those high grade lifters are beautiful.

[mobirdhunter]

Geez, I’d shoot that one with pride.

[todd allen]

I think that one is a $250.00 Grade

[Jay Oliver]

That is just perfection right there. Very cool how the patent dates were done on the bottom of the receiver. The hammers alone are works of art! That is a treasure for sure.

[Dean Romig]

That is very easily the equivalent of a Grade 5 or $250 quality. The 'teardrop' sculpted into the sides of the breech balls is certainly not the abbreviated length of the Grade 4 equivalent.
The 5 stamped into the bottom of each tube is not an indicator of the grade but one is preceded by a D and that with a digit on later guns is the stamp for Damascus and the quantity of crolle in the wrap... in other words, if refinished we may be able to determine if it is five-iron crolle Damascus, but it appears it would be too hard to count them in their present state.

I will say that it seems odd that two different dies were used to stamps the 5's rather than using the same die for both.
After looking more closely at the Damascus pattern that is visible I think the crolles are too large to support a theory of the tubes being the finer 5-iron.

Incidentally, what is engraved on the gold grip cap?





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[John Davis]

A research letter has not been requested for this gun???

[Bruce P Bruner]

This gun is for sale, about a 3 hour drive from me in Holyoke, Colorado and is also advertised on GB. I felt it had enough historical interest to share here. It’s not a bargain basement item, though placing a fair value on a very early high grade Parker such as this one is difficult for me. It’s a shell of its former glory, though functional with nice bores. Vintage Parker’s such as this one are somewhat unique to themselves considering condition and value. The baseline price is $4800 on this one and I am a value shopper like most all of us here. It may very well be fairly priced, keeping in mind that these are scarce and don’t grow on trees.
For me personally to afford this one would entail a sell off of some of my collection and I am unwilling to do a one, two, three or four for one type of exchange. In hindsight, sometimes I regret passing on unique pieces for my collection, but sometimes it’s difficult for me to stay in my lane.
The seller said if I required additional photos he would gladly comply. I just like to keep this forum interesting and contribute when I can.