Engraving falls into the category of "art". As such, opinions will be all over the map.
I appreciate well executed engraving of most any style, have a banker's taste on a ditchdigger's budget, and so, have few engraved guns.
My taste runs toward game or game scenes appropriately matched to the gun type and gauge/caliber at hand. I don't care for the Germanic rabbit/deer scenes on a shotgun. I appreciate the complexity, craftsmanship, and labor of large fields of English fine scroll, but it's like watching the mandatory "figures" portion of "figure skating"...boring.
There's enough 'flying turnips' in my collection that I don't care to have anymore. The engraving on my Beschi 410 NID grade 4 copy looks pretty bad to me. Heavy handed.
A little gold is ok with me, but it definitely has limits with me. The Winchester pumps with the -5 pattern (no gold) are a favorite of mine. With gold, they are not quite as attractive to me, but I still like them. I've gone back and forth on whether to have my 42 engraved or leave it plain.
Some of the Galazan high end Fox guns that we've seen with multi-color gold ribbons and scroll all over, just leave me laughing.
Last edited by Chuck H; 10/22/11 09:40 AM.
