Gun Engraving

[Licensed to kill]

And, to further the subject of this thread, the engraving on them is truly delightful, quality work. Very artistic use of the side plates, and unusual scroll work - almost not scroll at all. Wonderful.

It appears to be a form of black leaf. Lynton McKenzie was a master of the style IMO. Big fan of high end blackleaf

 

[Cow Town Bill]

It appears to be a form of black leaf. Lynton McKenzie was a master of the style IMO. Big fan of high end blackleaf

The engraver was most likely Ron Collings and he most likely engraved Ashcroft's Malin as well.
Collings reportedly trained in England and was recruited by Frank Malin to join him and a group of English craftsmen in his London, Ontario shop. When this shop shut its doors Collings relocated to California and did custom work for many years. I tried to contact him years ago but was unsuccessful.

 

[Cow Town Bill]

Thanks for the favourable responses. Here's two more shots including one of the butt stocks---the stockmaker was top notch but I don't know his name---perhaps Ashcroft can help us out.

 

[Licensed to kill]

The engraver was most likely Ron Collings and he most likely engraved Ashcroft's Malin as well.
Collings reportedly trained in England and was recruited by Frank Malin to join him and a group of English craftsmen in his London, Ontario shop. When this shop shut its doors Collings relocated to California and did custom work for many years. I tried to contact him years ago but was unsuccessful.

Thank you. I had not heard of him before. Looks like nice work as near as I can tell. Gone for Christmas and don’t have my reading glasses and am on my phone so small screen. Keeping g my posts short as it’s difficult to read.

 

[canvasback]

I always think it was a shame that Malin's ambitions overtook him. He knew how to get a good gun put together.

And because it's a thread about gun engraving:

 

[Cow Town Bill]

That Charles Daly by Lindner is magnificent. And, photography is top notch.
The Lindner is probably a 20's gun and the Boswell was made in the 80's. Quite a difference in engraving style as the Boswell has some bulino which was unknown in the Lindner era.

 

[canvasback]

That Charles Daly by Lindner is magnificent. And, photography is top notch.
The Lindner is probably a 20's gun and the Boswell was made in the 80's. Quite a difference in engraving style as the Boswell has some bulino which was unknown in the Lindner era.

Bill, not a Lindner gun. Lindner stopped at the onset of WW1. Best guesses is that this one was made by Kreighof. You nailed the date though.....1925.

 

[claudio o]

Wow, what a lovely piece…where did you ever find that one?

 

[the spank]

This is not mine and I do not know the owner personally but he posted this on Trapshooters.com & Shotgunworld looking for information. This was his fathers gun he inherited recently. He said he can recall this being in his fathers cabinet as long as he can remember and seems to recall his dad acquired it around 1970. So far all the information coming back to him has been sparse but so far it appears it may be a very special one off. It was made by Krieghoff in April 1926. It comes with two sets of engraved barrels, one set in 30" and the other in 32". I am posting it as I thought some of you might really appreciate the craftsmanship put into this gun. One of the replies on TS suggested this was a field gun but I believe looking at the height of the comb in relation to the rib and the stock being a parallel comb that this is a trap or live bird competition gun. There was no mention of the chokes on each barrel set but I think it was indicated that it is a 12ga gun.

 

[the spank]

A few more...

 

[sillymike]

Thanks for sharing!
- Nice thing with older guns, you're pretty much guaranteed the engraving was all hand made by skilled artisan... Now I'm wondering which levers does what

*-*-*

Was recently looking (online) at a Churchill Hercules... was surprised to learn the engraving was pretty much all laser, with some "hand" finishing
Don't know yet if I should be happy
- Machines are getting pretty good, and "nicer" gun will (hopefully) available for a better price
Or if I should be sad
- Some knowledge and abilities will be lost over time...

 

[Cow Town Bill]

I have to agree with you, Mike, true engraving all done by hand is now confined to very high end and very expensive guns.
A good example is a Beretta 687EELL that I recently found a new home for. This model currently sells for $10,000-12,000 which is a fraction of the cost of high end guns such as the Churchill you exhibit; and, there is far better hand engraving done by a handful of world scale engravers. My Beretta is signed by Giovanelli but my feeling is that the engraving is primarily done by computer with expert hand finishing. It looks good but true hand engraving by an expert is even better.

 

[canvasback]

This is not mine and I do not know the owner personally but he posted this on Trapshooters.com & Shotgunworld looking for information. This was his fathers gun he inherited recently. He said he can recall this being in his fathers cabinet as long as he can remember and seems to recall his dad acquired it around 1970. So far all the information coming back to him has been sparse but so far it appears it may be a very special one off. It was made by Krieghoff in April 1926. It comes with two sets of engraved barrels, one set in 30" and the other in 32". I am posting it as I thought some of you might really appreciate the craftsmanship put into this gun. One of the replies on TS suggested this was a field gun but I believe looking at the height of the comb in relation to the rib and the stock being a parallel comb that this is a trap or live bird competition gun. There was no mention of the chokes on each barrel set but I think it was indicated that it is a 12ga gun.

Interesting. This gun is clearly marked Kreieghoff Suhl yet Krieghoff was and is an Ulm based maker.

 

[canvasback]

Wow, what a lovely piece…where did you ever find that one?

Same place my next Charles Daly is coming from!

 

[the spank]

Interesting. This gun is clearly marked Kreieghoff Suhl yet Krieghoff was and is an Ulm based maker.

I figured you'd be the first to catch that! I believe that is one of the reasons there is such sparse info coming back to the owner on this gun. The feelers have been sent out to a couple in the know Krieghoff experts in Germany to determine what this gent has. So far nobody who has access to Krieghoff records in the USA has been able to locate this particular gun in the mfg records. I'll keep you posted as more is posted on it on TS or SW.

 

[Ashcroft]

Many records in Britain, Europe and particularly Germany were lost during the war.

 

[canvasback]

I figured you'd be the first to catch that! I believe that is one of the reasons there is such sparse info coming back to the owner on this gun. The feelers have been sent out to a couple in the know Krieghoff experts in Germany to determine what this gent has. So far nobody who has access to Krieghoff records in the USA has been able to locate this particular gun in the mfg records. I'll keep you posted as more is posted on it on TS or SW.

It constantly bugs me that before I got into vintage guns, I spent time in both St Etienne (France) and Eibar (Spain) and a ton of time 20 min from Ulm! Back then, no idea guns were made in those places. Grrrrr!

 

[sillymike]

I'd love to have SxS done by Christine Lelièvre, I kind of like of her art-deco-style... and she's a friendly down to earth gal...
- Had knife done by her in the past, but a SxS is probably a little too $ for me right now...

 

[Licensed to kill]

I'd love to have SxS done by Christine Lelièvre, I kind of like of her art-deco-style... and she's a friendly down to earth gal...
- Had knife done by her in the past, but a SxS is probably a little too $ for me right now...

Full marks for imagination. While the style exhibited in these pics is not my cup of tea, I admire the "outside of the box" thinking and the artistic talent required to come up with such designs. The execution is quite good but the shading looks very good in some elements but quite coarse in others. Could be just in the photography as the camera does not always reproduce exactly what the eye sees in person.

 

[canvasback]

I'd love to have SxS done by Christine Lelièvre, I kind of like of her art-deco-style... and she's a friendly down to earth gal...
- Had knife done by her in the past, but a SxS is probably a little too $ for me right now...

I could be wrong but I think that is more Art Nouveau inspired than Art Deco. In any event, it’s gorgeous.

Where is she based?