The engraver’s art
A rifle’s engraving can add or detract value.
It probably harkens back to our very basic human nature to want to embellish our prized possessions in a manner that is both artistic and pleasing to the eye. When reading early accounts, it becomes evident that the art of engraving in different forms was being practised almost right from the origins of gunmaking. A finely-engraved weapon was as much a thing of joy and beauty for its owner as it was a status symbol. I suspect things have remained pretty much the same to this day.
THE STYLES
Over time, different styles of engraving have been developed and they still serve as templates for much of today’s engraving. If we take a step back in time to the England of 150 years or so ago, the first style worth taking notice of is a pattern developed by James Purdey & Sons consisting of a combination of bouquets of flowers and small scrolls. Purdey-style engraving is usually quite understated and not necessarily full coverage but when well executed, can be extremely pleasing to the eye. It has been adopted over time by many other gunmakers who have all added their own twists and adaptations to the basic theme. Purdey-style rose and scroll engraving is to this day widely applied to new guns and
will be a standard item for the man who insists (and possesses the required financial means) on ordering a new shotgun from Purdey, where it is referred to as “standard fine”.
The second major style of engraving is known as bold foliate scroll engraving. The chief distinction between bold foliate scroll and the more understated Purdey-style rose and scroll, lies in the fact that the individual scrolls in the former are larger, are cut to a greater depth and generally applied in full coverage style. This style usually does not incorporate bouquets of flowers but relies instead on the bolder appearance of the larger scrolls for dramatic effect. This style of engraving has become synonymous with London gunmakers Holland & Holland but, as was the case with Purdey’s rose and scroll, was adopted and adapted by others in the trade. In between the two different styles of scroll engraving can be found a myriad of variations and adaptations on the original theme and just about every gunmaker worth his salt had a pattern that sets his guns apart from the rest.
Game scene engraving, and especially game scenes of extensive coverage, are fairly rarely encountered on vintage British guns because the different makers generally stuck to their inhouse styles unless requested otherwise. On special-order guns, however, the British makers were usually only too willing to apply engraving to suit an individual client’s tastes. The same goes for embellishments such as gold inlays and enamelling. A good number of guns and rifles made for well-heeled clients, especially Indian royalty, clearly show evidence that no expense whatsoever was spared on embellishments. These guns were profusely engraved and inlaid with gold and other precious metals, and even precious stones in a few noteworthy instances. Clearly the customer’s wish (and wallet) was the gun- makers’ command whenever circumstances demanded.
A criticism levelled from time to time against game scene engraving on British guns of a bygone era is that the depictions of animals are sometimes very naïve. When we take into account the fact that the engravers themselves had in almost every instance never set eyes on a tiger or elephant themselves, this is hardly surprising!
Some makers, notably WW Greener, made up special guns for exhibition and advertising purposes upon which countless hours of the finest handwork was lavished. These were often engraved (especially on the bottom plate and trigger guard) not only with finely executed scroll but with vignettes of game scenes and/or waterfowl or even other more exotic animals. Again, this is a theme not routinely encountered, traditional scroll engraving of one kind or another was by far the most popular.
Today some British engravers are booked years in advance and their names mentioned in the same hushed tones as the names on the lock plates of the guns they work on. The engravers charge according to their artistic input and the demand for good engraving is so high that many of the bigger gunmaking concerns employ their own engravers. For a youngster with an artistic bend, the odd apprenticeship to train as an engraver is available from time to time at firms such as Purdey, Holland & Holland and Westley Richards.
IN EUROPE
Across the channel, the Germans and Austrians are also capable of very fine engraving and many weapons created in places such as Sühl and Ferlach were exquisitely engraved. As expected, the Germans and Austrians created their own styles and although many of their weapons feature British-style scrollwork of impeccable quality, they tended to favour deeplycarved oak leaves and other similar (and coarser) styles instead of fine scroll. In another departure from the traditional British approach they also did a fair amount of game scene engraving, especially on drillings and double-barrelled shotguns. It would typically be a stag on the bottom plate, coupled with a brace of pheasants or perhaps a rabbit on the action body or lock plates to indicate the weapon’s wide range of intended quarries.
World War II was as calamitous for the engravers as it was to the gunmakers themselves. Many of Europe’s economies were either in tatters or teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, so it took some years for se- »
» rious orders for fine guns and rifles to start trickling in again. To make matters worse, many of the old-school gunmakers did not survive the war and many of the surviving old-school engravers simply never took up their trade again as the demand was no longer there. The guns made in certain eras after World War II are often not as highly regarded in terms of quality of engraving or finish as those made before the onset of hostilities in 1939.
A few decades later, however, people were once again ordering bespoke guns and rifles on a sustainable basis and in Britain engravers such as Ken Hunt and Geoffrey Casbard were doing excellent work for some of the remaining British makers. Ken Hunt, especially, is today regarded as the dean of modernday British engravers and he is rightly famous for the fantastic detail and overall quality of his work.
BEST FOR DISPLAY
From Italy in more recent times came the mixed blessing of bulino or banknote engraving. As the name implies, it is a style of engraving derived from the printing industry and thousands of short, sharp cuts, dots and lines is imprinted into the steel by hand pressure only to create a single engraving scene of extraordinary detail. The downside to bulino, however, is that the finished product is very shallow and therefore ultra prone to damage if the firearm is to be used extensively in the field. One scratch can literally ruin the Michelangelo-type scene on the side of your prized game gun as you climb through a fence with an over-eager pointer in pursuit. Therefore, bulino engraving is best left for display guns, not for ones meant for serious field use.
To give the Italians their due, however, they have some of the finest engravers in the world. Many of them are in such great demand that they are fully booked for years in advance. Traditionally, Italian engravers charged less for their work than the well-known British engravers but this is changing fast. A friend of mine acquired a very fine competition over/under shotgun by a well-known Italian concern some years ago. It is beautifully made with fine wood and a wonderful deep-carved engraving by a master Italian engraver (let’s call him Mr X). The engraving features open scrolls emanating from the mouths of flame-spewing dragons, and topless maidens – a real conversation piece. As the gun fitted him extremely well he enquired about an identical gun to supplement the first one. The principal of the gunmaking concern was only too happy to supply my friend with a quote, but, interestingly enough, not for the engraving, only the gun. When my friend asked the boss of the firm at a gun show why engraving wasn’t quoted for, he received an Italian shrug and the comment, “Mr X does not even get out of bed for less than 5 000 dollars!”
In Belgium, the Fabrique Nationale factory in Liege ran a school for engravers for many years. The FN engraving school produced dozens of very talented artists whose work adorn many a fine gun and their work is highly prized today. Sadly, the fine engraving emanating from the FN factory is but a trickle, but having said that, some of the engraving that comes out of Belgium is as good as the best produced anywhere else.
Some years ago a well-known British auction house was asked to sell a Francotte 12-bore sideby-side shotgun that had allegedly been made to order for the late Hugh Hefner, founder and publisher of Playboy magazine. To say that the gun was a conversation piece would be putting it mildly – the auction house described the scenes engraved on the gun as “prurient in nature”, and they certainly were! The extremely detailed and graphic engraving was executed by a well-known Belgian engraver, and I have always wondered who he used as a template for this particular project.
IN SOUTH AFRICA
In South Africa we also have a small number of engravers that ply their trade. As I do not know them all personally I cannot mention them all by name but one young man whose work I became acquainted with recently is Jonathan Knoessen from Rustenburg. Jonathan is largely a self-taught engraver who worked in the platinum mining industry before deciding to change course and become an engraver. He recently showed me two of his most recent projects and I have to admit that his work really impressed me. The first engraving was on a .505 Gibbs boltaction rifle, built on a Granite Mountain Arms Magnum Mauser action. In addition to »
» a very lifelike elephant bull on the magazine floorplate, Jonathan added a generous dose of fine scroll to some areas of the action, barrel and magazine box. As the rifle was still in the white, the engraving showed very well and I noticed that there were no mistakes or overruns whatsoever! The second project was, rather unusually, a Marlin lever-action in .45-70 that had a buffalo bull engraved on the side of the action surrounded by coarse scrolls. Again, the execution was flawless and the overall effect rather dramatic. It is heartening and a good omen for the future of gunmaking in South Africa to see a young man like Jonathan take up a specialist trade such as engraving.
We sometimes lose sight of the fact that the style and content of a particular engraving project is very much a personal matter and that tastes differ. Having said that, I have often scratched my head in wonder- ment at the embellishments on some guns. Some of the more memorable decorations include the face of Margaret Thatcher, the late British prime minister, on the action of a Purdey 20bore; various strange gold inlays of an indeterminate shape; calibre and maker’s names wrongly spelled and an aftermarket wildebeest (on the magazine floorplate of a vintage Rigby) that looked as if it had just survived the rinderpest epidemic. Decorations such as these are sheer murder on the potential resale value of a gun or a rifle, whereas well-executed engraving that enhances the elegance of a firearm has exactly the opposite effect.
Engraving, like fine gunmaking, is one of the ultimate expressions of the gunmaking art. Once chiselled into steel, engraving will endure for the life of the gun and provide decades of viewing pleasure not only to the original owner but a number of successive owners as well.