doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Fox Sterlingworth lettering

I�m with Chuck�.and have been so ( to myself) since the thread came up, I just didn't have the time to type as elloquent an explanation....I�m just going to substantiate our proof, there's the left side over the right through the wonders of Phtoshop
Definitively stamped

CJ

Humbly disagree; these old eyes can see, glaring to me, differences in the F and S. Easily noted is the downward angled mid bar on one F and the different curvatures in the S.

They are very different.
Compare a single letter from each side, don't look at the entire word or layout. Enlarging the pics on the auction you can see the occasional burr at the end of a cut. Not the standing metal from an impression stamp but a tiny ragged burr here and there.

You really don't have to go any farther than the F to see that they are different if enlarged & examined closely.
The downstroke cut of the main stem of each is different.
The right side action lettering, the stem backside is not quite completely squared off by the bottom cap. The left side is with the forward side of the cut still visible in the cap cut.

On the right side, the top cross cut of the F is weak/thin with the very forward portion taking a downward turn to the serif.
The left side is a deeper cut and straight accross.
The bottom cap on the right side has angled ends, nearly the same angle that the lettering stands.
The bottom cap on the F on the left side has ends that are squared with the cap itself forming a rectangle.
Tiny differences but things that would not show if they were rolled with an identicle die.

The G on the right side has a nice big burr hanging on the bottom/end of the verticle cut. Not from a die,,from a graver. You have to enlarge the pics to see it probably.

Differences in the curves of the S are easily seen in the pic above.
On the left side, the inside loops are not identicle as they are on the S engraved on the right side.
S,O,D,B,ect are the difficult letters to cut for most engravers, Even more so when called upon to make a matching pair.

That they do look so much the same is good. That's one goal of hand lettering especially when it's being duplicated as it is here.
A prepared pattern was most likely used if more than one was being cut. If not then one side is layed out and cut, then a pull is made of that and layed down on the otherside.
You don't lay it out again from scratch on the opposite side. That usually leads to many small errors that really show up when viewed. Takes too much time too.

JMHO of course,,

There are at least a couple things in play that can cause the differences between what is seen in the pictures. The perspective of the camera, lens distortion, resolution, lighting, depth and uneveness of the stamp.

If logic and economics were tossed into the mix, it favors stamp/rollmark. Engraving would take longer than all the other combined labor in a Sterlingworth.

I think some of you guys are not seeing the forest through the trees. 99%+ all of Sterlingworths are roll stamped. There are some, not a lot, that look alot like this one that are in my opinion engraved. These are the exception and this style does not look at all like the typical roll stamped version.

Does anybody really think they made a special stamp that looks like engraving and then only used it sparingly? It has been opined that since, other than some custom flourishes on high grade guns, all Foxes start out the same so these guns represent actions that were pulled out of inventory to fill an order for one reason or another.

Looking at one side of the gun versus the other gives you one look at one gun. It would be safe to assume the work was done by the same hand. I'd be interested in seeing a dozen of these and be able to compare them before I'd be ready to change my mind and say they were stamped.

The reality is that it takes about 5 minutes to engrave each side with the 'Fox Sterlingworth' as you see it having a pattern to lay it down with. If you have to lay it out on one side first add a couple of minutes for that. Make a card pull of the first cut and use it as a transfer for the opposite side. It's a simple lettering style, quick & easy to cut w/one chisel and it's nicely done in this case.


It's hand cut, simple as that. All you have to do is look at it to see that, and do the work I guess. The tool marks are there,,the variations, all of it.
That wriggle pattern and few chisel marks they call the rest of the Sterlingworth engraving,,add 20 minutes for the entire gun if you take your time. That's on new work.

About 30 minutes,,probably less in a factory repetative situation,, to cut a Sterlingworth complete (new work). I don't have any idea of how much combined hand labor went into one of these, but I'd guess 30 minutes or less on the apprentice level engravers bench wasn't more than the sum of the rest of the operations.

Takes longer to re-cut one for restoration if part of the old engraving is still visable after prep. Doing a good job you pick up the remnants of the old work walking the graver into and out of the old cuts instead of just running a new pattern right over it trying to hide it,,,which is done quite often.
VH Parkers are the same. Plus you match your tool shape and width to the one used to cut it originally. Something you don't have to be so precise about on an entirely new cut as there's nothing to match up.