Originally Posted By: ESP
so when these gentlemen engrave are they copying from a design they did before?
Sometimes. Other times they use an image created by others, or one actually done completely by themselves. But mostly they use others' images as seminal inspiration for their own aesthetic/artistic changes and adaptations.

So if you have the original original that is special?
IMO only if the original was done by a known-name master. But you gotta remember that I speak as a scrimshander and not as a steel engraver (grin).

You can lead a man to logic but you can't make him think. NRA Life since 1976. God bless America!