I consulted with a Parker expert I know and he told me the late Parkers only say 'Parker' because Remington did not have enough money to buy the Bros part of the name.... It is entirely possible that someone ordered the gun in the late 1930's after the Remington takeover and they were just using up the remaining supply of parts which, according to some records he had, included laminated barrels and enough odd parts to make a hammer gun. The laminated barrels were probably made by Parker, not imported, and may shoot better than barrels made of other types of steel.
I'm glad this mystery has been solved.
I don't think the mystery is solved, but GregSY posits a new mystery: Who is this masked man? The "expert" who believes (1) Remington didn't have enough $$$ to buy the full Parker Brothers name; (2) Someone ordered a hammer gun in the late 1930s and Remington cobbled one together out of parts left over from the 1880s; (3) The mystery man has "records" showing that Parker Brothers "probably" made the barrels and they "may" shoot better than other types of steel. Isn't it 99.99% more likely that:
(1) Remington bought parts inventory, work in process, tooling, and the goodwill of the Parker name plus the right to make guns with the Parker name (but not "Parker Brothers"), which was a Trademark of The Charles Parker Company, Inc., of Meriden CT. Fact is that TCPCo., Inc. continued to market products under their Parker Brothers trade name after Remington bought the rights to make and market The Parker Gun.
(a) Companies almost always buy assets rather than acquire the whole business so as to avoid assumption of liabilities. (We arn't talking about mergers and acquisitions here, but the buying of a "nickle shop" making less than 100 guns a year during the Great Depression.)
(b) The last thing Remington wanted in June 1934 was to enhance their product line with the Parker name at the risk of being sued when one of a quarter-million Parker Brothers guns made made over 68 years by TCPCo.Inc. blew up in some numbnut's hands who plugged a barrel or overloaded a shell or shot someone because he thought the safety was on when it was off.
(c) By avoiding the liability issue in the 1930s and allowing TCPCo., Inc. to go on using their Parker Brothers trademark, Remington created a problem for itself three-score-and-ten years later when the new Parker Bros O/U was introduced recently. Remington never bought or used the Parker Brothers trademark, and the trademark fell into disuse when TCPCo., Inc. was acquired, absorbed, and liquidated long ago. There was a
Remington vrs. Parker Bros lawsuit recently, but anyone who reads the magazines will see ads for an O/U made and marketed by a company in Meriden CT, not associated with Remington. IMHO (based on some direct knowledge) a trademark has to be used and vigorusly defended to remain the property of a claimant; to my knowledge, Remington never purchased, used, or defended the Parker Bros trademark.
C'est la vie!
(2-3-4) As to a mystery "expert" with Parker records showing Remington made hammer guns in the late 1930s out of parts left over from the nineteenth century, and particularly Parker-made Laminated barrel tubes which were superior to other kinds of steel, I guess one man's unnamed expert is another man's red herring. Suffice it to say that:
(a) Tubes forged of "English Laminated" steel were once considered superior to other types because the tubes contained more steel, which was possible given a method of forging that involved less twisting. Laminated barrels were harder and wore better, but lost out to fashion when shooters came to value the spiral pattens of finest Damascus.
(b) Parker Brothers made some of its own barrel tubes starting in 1878, and likely ending in the late 1880s (according to catalog interpetations).
Finally, to answer the first poster's question: Both Sears and Monkey Wards sold cheap hammer guns ($11.40) at the turn of the last century, made in Belgium and clearly cataloged as such, marked T.Parker and T.Barker, and the ads proclaimed "500,000 Sold!" There were several other Parker names on cheap guns, and Thomas Parker was an old-time English maker.
Punch line: If it dosen't say "Parker Bros. Maker Meriden CT" on the barrel rib, and "Parker Brothers" or "Parker Bros" on the lock plate of an old wallhanger, it ain't a real Parker. Further EDM sayeth naught.
