doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Engraving..Ugly or Attractive...Opinions...

For me, too much engraving is similar to a gaudy metal flake paint job on a beautiful sports car....and gold triggers and enlays are really tacky looking to me......(and yes, I have some).....your opinion......

Third world dictators love engraving and gold/silver plating to the extreme for some reason.......signifies power maybe....?....

It seems so many shotgun lovers base the quality of a piece soley on the engraving.....?.....Is it like makeup on a hooker or not, the more the merrier......?........Does it show quality and usefulness above that of the same piece that has no engraving.....?.....

Where do you draw the line.....?.....



Best Regards,

Engraving can make a good gun great, engraving can make a great gun poor---it is totally dependent on the quality and competency of the engraver. Ditto for gold--when done sparingly.

I am not in lust for anything plated in gold or with great inlays. They are pearl handled pistols to me
In some respects beauty is simply a matter of taste, opinion, previous experience. For me elegance is understatement; however beauty still exists even in the most intense and complex if it has balance and symmetry. Appropriateness of design is a matter of taste, nudes, grotesque figures, and alike are not my cup of tea on a gun, but if someone else likes them, then fine for them, just not me. I find the fine bulino pictures inscribed on some guns today beautiful, but I question their durability over time.
My preference is to scroll work, both English traditional and Celtic. My best guns are a Belgian floral ribbon and scroll that I like.

I agree with both Doug and the Colonel. I enjoy seeing when Walt Snyder posts pics of his high grade Ithacas or someone posts pictures of a high grade Lefever or LC Smith. As long as it is well executed like the English Rose and Scroll I think its fitting but its all a matter of each persons individual taste.
Would I personally take them hunting, no, but then again a fellow I know saw someone throw a Thomas Boss into the back of his Escalade after shooting a few rounds of sporting clays.

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.

Very well said .......

+1..............................I'd leave the 42 alone Chuck....JMO...

Best,

I like it well done, or not at all. No rolled, imprinted nonsense. Have mixed feelings about the acid etched work on Beretta O/U's. Relief panels, bolder scroll borders, and chiseled fences are fine with me--and animals if well executed (esp. deep relief). Gold barrel bands and matching lines on front sights seem appropriate. I don't even mind gold lines on the scope rings to match. I am glad some folks can afford to keep the craft extant. The arts have always needed patrons...Steve
P.S. does anyone know how the Sabatti double rifles are "engraved?"

I would prefer no engraving. I only have two guns engraved, an Ithaca 37 and my Sarriugarte. The Ithaca has minimal engraving from the factory. The Sarriugarte has scroll/floral engraving, enough that I'm going to be aggravated when I reassemble the thing to get the engraved screws just right. I will say that properly done it is beautiful.

A couple of Browning High Grades, I'm not sure how they applied the engraving, but it sure is nicely done and fairly deep and detailed very well.... an 1886 in 45-70 one of 3,000....and a Model 71 rifle in .348......Browning made these for two years only, 1986 and 1987.......

There are no raised edges indicating depression forming/rolling on any of the engraving..... It has highs and lows appearing as hand cut engraving......but I don't think it was hand cut......whatever the process, it was/is a good one.....

The older Herstel Brownings, rifles and shotguns (pre-1970 and the current Herstel custom shop), had very nice and not overly done hand cut engraving for many years,.....well executed IMO.....

Steve, I don't know who did the Sabatti guns but I'm sure someone on here will know.....

1886 Browning High Grade 45-70 Rifle.....


Model 71 Browning High Grade Rifle .348 W.....



Best Regards,

I like upland game scene engraving, dogs and birds together. The early L.C. Smiths had some very nice engraving of dogs and mostly quail, some grouse and either woodcock or snipe.
On the higher graded guns only the most skilled worked on these guns, and I would believe that would include the engravers as well.