Licensed to kill
CGN Regular
- Location
- Peace Country Alberta
Oh, it's on my list things to domeeting a whole bunch of like-minded individuals, what's not to like!
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In other news. Which came first, the in letting or the checkering?
Inletting.
Gun Engraving
- Thread starter Pinfire
- Start date
Inletting.
And today's contenders for interesting-fences
Beautiful. William Powell lifters are beautiful guns, that's for sure. Gorgeous engraving.
And, as with so many designs and house decoration styles, it started with pin-fires. William Powell's patent No. 1163 (May 1864) was for a rotating bolt single bite snap action with a lift-up top lever and transverse pivot behind the action face, which locked against the barrel lump extending rearwards from the barrels into the action face. This patent was successful for both pin-fire and central-fire hammer guns, with these actions being supplied to the trade and appearing on other makers’ guns, as Sillymike showed us. Approximately 750 lifting action pin-fires were made, out of about 2,000 hammer guns built based on this patent in the following 25 years, accounting for much of the Powell business. The lift-up lever continued on their hammerless guns until 1922, approximately 3,000 more guns. The lifter action grew steadily in popularity, but started slowly: only two lifters were sold in 1864, 70 in 1865 and 100 in 1866. Any gunmaker selling 100 bench-made guns a year was doing extremely well, a far cry from later factory production.
Powell built pin-fire game guns starting in 1859, and he built his first central-fire breech-loader in 1867. Pin-fires and central-fires were sold and used concurrently in the 1860s; the sparsely-decorated bar-in-wood gun pictured below, with the characteristic Powell fences, was built as a pin-fire, then converted to dual-fire in 1890, to be able to fire either cartridge type. This gun was first completed on 9 November 1866 for Henry William Lord, barrister and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. However, for some unknown reason it was returned to Powell, and the gun was renumbered and sold again on 16 December 1869 to James Bogle Delap of Lillingstone Lovell, Buckinghamshire. He was the great-nephew of Colonel James Bogle Delap of Monellan, Ireland, whose family wealth came from Jamaican and West Indies sugar plantations.
Yes the wood was upgraded as well.
I talked to the engraver a few years ago and he said he had done three of these actions for a gentleman. He had wanted to get into engraving full time and did these to get examples of he’s work out.
When I asked him what an engraving job like that would cost me today he said he would charge in the low five figure range.
That would be quite the project today to spend that much on a 300$ Savage.
I talked to the engraver a few years ago and he said he had done three of these actions for a gentleman. He had wanted to get into engraving full time and did these to get examples of he’s work out.
When I asked him what an engraving job like that would cost me today he said he would charge in the low five figure range.
That would be quite the project today to spend that much on a 300$ Savage.
Fidele Primavesi & Sons, a high-end china, earthenware and hardware merchant operating from the Cardiff docks in Wales. The lockplates have a line border and simple rosettes, and the name of the firm is misprinted.
That's a b itch... engrave a name misspelled...
That's a b itch... engrave a name misspelled...
Not too surprising, really. A general merchant orders a gun from a Birmingham maker (usually just a workbench), specifies the name to be engraved, and a misunderstanding results in a typo. The seller doesn't care, and it is not worth the trouble to send it back; the buyer doesn't care about a name (otherwise, he wouldn't be buying from a general merchant), and it is a low-cost gun anyway. The seller might not have even noticed it.
There was a problem at the time with intentional typos, for expensive big-name guns, to trick the gullible. For instance, Purdy instead of Purdey, Grener instead of Greener, etc. Putting a recognizable name on a cheap gun to make it attractive was an all-too-common practice, leading to the respectable gunmakers of the day publishing their correct names and street addresses in the sporting press, so as to warn buyers. Usually just having "London" without a street address was a good indicator the gun was never made in London, and was likely dubious. Proper gunmakers had a reputation to protect.
sillymike
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Is there a picture hidden somewhere?
Here is the original relevant text and photo from post #20:
Towards the close of the 1860s, the cost of breechloaders diminished as Birmingham produced them in greater numbers. Basic guns were often marked and retailed by hardware shops and general merchants – the ‘JC Higgins’ of the day. In such entry-level guns, the lack of engraving might have been cost-related, making them even more affordable. These were not guns on which reputations were defended or maintained! An example is this gun, carrying the name of Fidele Primavesi & Sons, a high-end china, earthenware and hardware merchant operating from the Cardiff docks in Wales. The lockplates have a line border and simple rosettes, and the name of the firm is misprinted.
Towards the close of the 1860s, the cost of breechloaders diminished as Birmingham produced them in greater numbers. Basic guns were often marked and retailed by hardware shops and general merchants – the ‘JC Higgins’ of the day. In such entry-level guns, the lack of engraving might have been cost-related, making them even more affordable. These were not guns on which reputations were defended or maintained! An example is this gun, carrying the name of Fidele Primavesi & Sons, a high-end china, earthenware and hardware merchant operating from the Cardiff docks in Wales. The lockplates have a line border and simple rosettes, and the name of the firm is misprinted.
sillymike
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Today's contender for interesting fences...
THE LEFEVER ARMS COMPANY EXHIBITION 12 GAUGE
- I'd love to be a fly on the wall, and watch the artisan sculpted the action... and see how the created the scallop (whatever it's called) to match the pattern and the front of the action...
THE LEFEVER ARMS COMPANY EXHIBITION 12 GAUGE
- I'd love to be a fly on the wall, and watch the artisan sculpted the action... and see how the created the scallop (whatever it's called) to match the pattern and the front of the action...
