doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Parry Article in DGJ

Hello Dave
As I look at my list of Parry marked guns all the Quality 2s are in the first 100 serial numbers with no Quality 1s. Ill just give you a break donw it will be easer.

Parry marked guns
0-100 6 guns 5 Quality 2s and one I dont know
100-200 1 gun Quality 1
200-300 2 guns 1 Quality 1 and one I dont know
300-400 no guns listed
400-500 6 guns 4 Quality 1 and 2 I dont know
500-515 2 guns Both Quality 1

Wilkes-Barre marked guns
500-600 1 gun This is my high grade gun
600-700 2 guns Both Quality 1s
700-800 1 gun Quality 1
800-1000 No guns
1000-1100 4 guns One Quality 1 and 3 I dont know
1100-1200 2 guns One Quality 2 and one Quality 1
1200-1300 1 gun I dont know

Dave I hope that this helps you. I think the W-B kept the numbers going, but there are some gaps that look funny. I do know that the W-B hammer guns and the hammerless were not numbered together. As there is one hammer gun and one hammerless numbered with the same number.
Bob

Bob:
Parry built guns past the serial numbers that you list. At least into the 600s.
Best,
John

John, I haven't seen the Parry guns you talk about in the 600 range. What were the serial numbers and what were the grades ?

Daryl:
I bought a really nice Quality 1 a few years ago from a New England fellow. It is the only Parry I had seen up to that time. Serial # 40X.
When I had the opportunity to buy another that was without barrels and fore end, but complete except for the lever, I did so as a stash of parts, if needed. That one has serial number 609. It, also, is a Quality 1 and exactly like the 40X gun.
Best,
John
Edit: The butt plate on the parts gun is different. It is a flat hard rubber piece(no figure or logo) but appears original to the gun.

Sorry its taken so long to get back on this but Ive been out of pocket as I am alot.
John this could be. Please send me a picture of the watertable and ill ad it to the serial number list.
As for but plates that Ive seen. The proper butt plate is a Plate with a doy marked Parry Fire Arms. As for the Wilkes-Barre guns. The early one all had Parry butt plates on them and the later gun had a Wilks-Barre plate just like there hammerless guns had. (whitch is a Parry plate without the Parry markings).

John email the picture to noble@xyz.net

Mr. Noble:

Interesting and fine article indeed. Interesting in the fact that it yields insight into just how may of the US arms makers were connected. I was reading "The Collecting of Guns" by James E. Serven and and he mentions Forehand & Wadsworth and Forehand Arms Co. as a direct desendent, for want of a better term, of Ethan Allen & Associates:

"E. Allen Grafton, Mass. 1832-1837
Allen & Thurber Grafton, Mass. 1837-1842
Allen & Thurber Norwich, Conn. 1842-1847
Allen & Thurber Worcester, Mass. 1847-1854
Allen & Thurber & Co. Worcester, Mass. 1854-1856
Allen & Wheelock Worcester, Mass. 1856-1865
E. Allen & Co. Worcester, Mass. 1865-1871
Forehand & Wadsworth Worcester, Mass. 1871-1890
Forehand Arms Co. Worcester, Mass. 1890-1902

These several firms constitute a family dynasty founded by Ethan Allen. A second brother-in-law("Charles Thurber was Ethan's sister's husband"), Thomas P. Wheelock, long an employee of the Allen & Thurber firm, was to become a slient partner as the "& Co." added to the firm name in 1854. Wheelock became a full partner upon the retirement of Mr. Thurber in early 1856. Byt the time of Thomas Wheelock's death in May of 1864 Allen's two sons-in-law, Sullivan Forehand & Henry C. Wadsworth, became the "& Co." of the new E. Allen & Co., thus perpetuating the family interest beyond the death of the founder himself."

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

And then the remains of Forehand Arms Co. was taken by Hopkins & Allen and they continued to market Forehand Model doubles.

These old guys got around, either going where the work was or where the investment capital was -- William H. Baker, Frank A. Hollenbeck, Albert J. Aubrey, George A. Horne, George Mosher, Edward George Parry, Ansley H. Fox, Andrew E. Whitmore. Then there were ones like Charles King that found a good home, stayed for life, and passed the job on to his son Walter!

Researcher:

Any way you could draw the name Remington into the mix?

Regarding the craftsmen in Birmingham, an increase in their weekly guinea total would draw them to another maker and that is one reason why many of the Birmingham guns are similar, that is in addition to the common sources of frames and the like.

Do you have a copy of "The Arms of Ethan Allen & Associates" and have you seen one? In the late 1950's and early 1960's there seems to have been some renewed intertest in older guns, their history and gun collecting as many texts were published mainly by Stackpole or Bonanza. The above author James E. Serven penned more than 1/2 a dozen. And there was a Harry H. Mann author of "The Early Breech-loading Carbines of the U.S." and I was curious if any of the Mann posters here claimed him.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

"The Arms of Ethan Allen & Associates" may not have been the correct title, but could be a similar one by Philip F. Van Cleave, if it exists.

Mr. Hallquist:

I failed to acknowledge your parallel contribution with the excellent close-up photos.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Well, A.E. Whitmore did the E. Remington & Sons' doubles in the 1870s (Patent No. 125775), then the American Arms Co., Boston, Massacheusetts, hammerless double circa 1890 (Patent Nos. 386174 and 433262.

Engravers seem to have moved around some, such as Loy at both Ithaca and Remington.