Seems to me that ovals are mostly placed in rather nice wood and nice wood only seems to take a hard stare from me to put marks into it. I think 24k gold would scratch or mar just as easily. Engraving after placing in the wood is indeed difficult for the engraver but engraving it prior to inletting makes it even more difficult on the stockmaker. As a long time engraver and more or less hobby stockmaker I would opt for the inletting and then engraving and for the 10k oval over the 24k. I have done only a couple of these and only on guns that I was doing extensive engraving upon.
