The Baker evolution is complicated and started with the W.H. Baker Co. in Lisle, NY 1875-1877, then the W.H. Baker & Co. in Syracuse, which was financed by L.C. Smith and his brother Leroy, 1877-1880. Baker and Leroy Smith went to Ithaca, N.Y. and established the Ithaca Gun Co. in 1883.
Baker left Ithaca early 1887 and returned to Syracuse to work with his brother Dr. Ellis Baker at the Syracuse Forging Co., which soon became the Syracuse Forging & Gun Co. They manufactured a trigger-plate hammer gun designed by A.C. McFarland, Patent #370,966 called the “New Baker Gun”.
May 19, 1888 “American Field”
After the factory in Syracuse burned in the summer of 1888, they moved to Batavia and eventually the company became the Baker Gun & Forging Co. At the time of the move W.H. Baker was ill with TB (and possibly silicosis - a gunsmith’s occupational hazard from barrel grinding) and died Sept. 10, 1889.
Baker Gun & Forging continued to produce the "New Baker" with underbolt 1890-1892 SN 10,000-16,000 and a top bolt model 1892-1896 SN 16,000-27,000 and the "New Baker Model 1896" 1896-1897 SN 27,000-31,000
The "New Baker" was replaced with the Model 1897
Your gun has been blued. The barrels were originally "black & white" damascus-twist and the action case colored.