Repro engraving
 

are the reproduction guns hand engraved? if not what type of engraving- is it rolled or done by a machine?

thanks
craig

Machine engraved on the DHE's. The BHE's are machine done with hand-engraved embellishments, so I'm told.

I have heard the same as Dean about the B Grade but have not been able to document in factory literature.
A1 Special Factory Literature however states: "The A-1 Special is offered in two models: factory and custom engraved. FACTORY ENGRAVED The hand engraved model features the finest factory game scene and fine scroll engraving. .....CUSTOM ENGRAVED It is hand engraved to the purchaser's specifications in Original Parker style at our Middlesex, New Jersey custom shop."
So all A1 Specials were hand engraved!!
Bob Jurewicz

It's been my understanding that the flat areas of DHE and BHE grades were machine engraved with the rounded areas and trigger guards being hand done. The breech balls and trigger guards of my DHE's certainly have subtle differences between one another. Like Bob said, I've also understood that A1-Specials were completely hand engraved.

A1S Repros were all hand engraved and the "custom engraved" A1S' were engraved by Geoffroy Gournet.

What he said.

I put a DHE receiver under a microscope a while back. Most of the line work appeared to have been done mechanically. However, a surprising number of the lines, especially the broader ones, appeared to have been hand-chased. I would call it maybe 80/20.

Regardless, if the best we can do is speculate, then credit must be given for a job well done.

You can tell the birds and dogs are stamped on...they are all exactly the same. My guess they had plates that did the large flat areas then hand finished the rest...Yes they are very nice! It would cost more than the guns now sell for if it were all hand engraved...who has that ability and would work for the price that Japanese worked for at that time! They did top shelf skilled labor for a real deal of a price! Cost to make them today would bring the sell price over 20K each for a one barrel set! What a deal these guns really are...(-: SXS ohio

If one wants something just a little more extravagant than a factory DHE, the factory engraving can be enhanced or embellished a little bit. I saw one by Angelo Bee that was very nice, also GG has done some, I'm sure others too. Heaven knows the wood is already spectacular enough on many DHEs, perhaps better than many A1s.