Engraved Trojan

[Bruce Day]

20ga

Why? Because Dick Washburn could. Now owned by a good friend who might have a few Parkers. He uses this for small bird hunting.

[Dean Romig]

Simply incredible!

And, why not? If you want to, and if you can... Why not!

[BRDHNTR]

Wow!

[Setter Man]

Stunning.

[Bruce Day]

Well there are those done in folk art with varying degrees of success then there are masterpieces like this done by top engravers for their own use. When Dick sold this it cost more than a nice condition Trojan by far. I don't own it but would love to and would pay well for it if it became available.

Some of the forum experts say that aftermarket engraving always degrades value but we have seen many cases where that is not true.

Dick Washburn did a number of upgrades from v to a on 28 ga guns. They are lovely and costly

[John Taddeo]

That is absolutely fantastic....

[Tim Wells]

The whole idea of gun engraving, especially non-factory has always been to create a unique one of a kind work of art in steel. It just naturally enhances the value of any worthwhile firearm. If it decreases the value of the firearm it is because of poor design, execution or both, and I've seen a LOT of those.

Part of the goal of FEGA or the Firearms Engravers Guild of America is to educate the public on what hand engraving is and what good engraving and design is supposed to look like. This can only help enhance the value of a good design well executed on a gun when the public knows what good work looks like and can tell it from poor work.

Just look up some old Colt or Winchester engraved by non factory engravers (some where at time factory men but not always) Ulrich, Young, or Nimschke and see what value they have... if you have the funds. Some customers want a classic factory pattern on a new firearm but most these days want something original right out of the engraving artists head.

Factory patterns for the most part tend to be on the basic side especially animal scenes. They had to be cut fast and there was no time to put too much detail in an animal which is why they mostly looked like cartoons rather than lifelike renditions. There's certainly something for everyone in the world of hand engraving.

[Bruce Day]

Originally Posted by Tim Wells

....
Factory patterns for the most part tend to be on the basic side especially animal scenes. They had to be cut fast and there was no time to put too much detail in an animal which is why they mostly looked like cartoons rather than lifelike renditions. There's certainly something for everyone in the world of hand engraving.

Really? I didn't know that.

Parker AH grade, factory engraved.

[Tim Wells]

Originally Posted by Bruce Day

Really? I didn't know that.

Parker AH grade, factory engraved.

That's why I said "tend to be" which was certainly not intended to suggest all inclusive, and while those dogs for example are a little more detailed than what I was referring to, they are still quite a bit less detailed than what you would see on a gun that someone had a freelance engraver do.

This is because you are requesting a certain look and since the independent engraver isn't banging out "production" work he has more time and inclination to make more realistic renderings rather than an outline of a dog or deer or whatever.

If you care to look up some of the production work done back when these guns were new you can see varying degrees of realism even within the same brand. The higher in grade you go for instance, the customer would expect more realistic looking animals in a factory pattern and rightfully so.

My comments were not intended to degrade Parker factory jobs or any other brand, just stating a fact for comparison. When it was posted that some "forum experts" think engraving other than factory decreases the value, I couldn't disagree more and that is why I tried to illustrate my point the way I did.

Some folks like factory patterns and want original factory engraved guns only, so they seek those out. To such a person, a gun engraved by independent folks might not appeal to them and wouldn't see the value in it. While others are just the opposite, so different strokes for different folks I reckon. Either way, all engraving is intended to be functional art and done so that it enhances the value, otherwise why do it at all? Nice gun by the way.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Tim Wells

Factory patterns for the most part tend to be on the basic side especially animal scenes. They had to be cut fast and there was no time to put too much detail in an animal which is why they mostly looked like cartoons rather than lifelike renditions.

Tim, I think that might be said of the lower grades (I'm talking Parkers here) but more to the point, specific engravers had their own style of engraving and executed their own rendition of birds, dogs, and (ugh) elk. On grades 2, 3, 4, and 5 a certain engraver might render beautiful depictions of setters and pointers while another engraver working on the same grades makes these same animals look like 'smoos'.
Yes, the engravers couldn't spend as much time on a Grade 3 as they would be expected to painstakingly spend on a Grade 6 or 7 so naturally the overall appearance of the engraving suffered a bit. But I think the biggest difference in the appearance of the birds and dogs, etc. was in the mind and hand of the engraver.

These examples are all different engraving periods by all different engravers. The renditions are their individual concepts of setters and they are all from Grade 3 and 1 grade 4 Parkers. (The first and second may have been done by the same hand)

Incidentally, only one of these guns is mine... No. 1



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