We do not guarantee that every "B" grade gun will be engraved from just the same design but endeavor to have about the same amount of engraving on each. "The cut of the Baker hammerless gun as shown here was made from one of the regular "B" grade guns picked from our stock on hand and is a fair sample of the engraving we put on these guns. There is some interesting text about the engraving on the B- and A-grades. They state that the normal engraving is scroll, dogs, and game but could be all scroll, scroll and dogs or scroll and game. They state that they do not have any Paragon Grade guns in stock and all are made to order requiring 4 to 8 weeks. They state that they introduced the Paragon about two years ago, but have been so busy with the lower priced guns that they haven't devoted the time and energy they should have in bringing it to the notice of the shooting public. There is a half a sentence that eludes to higher priced guns built to special order. 3, May 1900 - At this date they only appeared to offer 5 guns - Model 1897 hammer gun with twist barrels $25 net, Model 1897 Hammer gun with Damascus barrels $27.80 net, the B-Grade with "London Damascus twist" barrels for $35 net, the A-Grade with Fine Four-Blade Damascus barrels $42.75 net, and the Paragon Grade with fine four-blade Damascus barrels with extra fine figure $60 net. Hollenbeck had three patents granted while he was in Batavia and two are assigned to the Baker Gun & Forging Co.įrom your brief description it sounds like you have a Baker B-grade. Baker was ill with TB and they brought in Frank A. When the plant in Syracuse burned and they moved operations to Batavia, W.H. Even the trigger-plate hammer gun built first in Syracuse and then later in Batavia was designed by A.C. Baker was dead before any of the sidelock hammerless Baker doubles built in Batavia saw the light of day.
The Double Gun Journal - Vol 3, Iss 3&4 Vol 9, Iss 2 Vol 14, Iss 4 and Vol 19, Iss 3