As has been pointed out,,take any of the old 'Masters' works and enlarge a picture of their work to this point and it reveals the jagged cuts and other horrors too.
They didn't work under sterio microscopes and other high magnification as is so common now.
No air assisted 'gravers to produce smooth cuts w/no facet chatter marks.
Magnification was always common, though some engravers did not want to outwardly admit to using any.
The style cut on the Winchester uses semi relief and modeling to produce an effect more than relying on line and/or dot shading that is most commonly seen now.
Punches of various shapes are used to push the metal into shallow relief shapes to produce shadow and light.
A followup would be to carefully polish out the shapes of the punch marks to produce a smoother finish on the vines, leaves, animal features, etc. But that wasn't done here.
Background is matted with small punches that punch a larger surface than a single dot. They are made to push down and matt at the same time a larger area. That background was probably removed in a random pattern with a single point tool. It's fast and convenient to get into the corners. In punching it down, it's leveled and matted at the same time. The punches are very tiny but work goes fast,,much faster than with a single point.
Some other styles of work are left with the randon single point background removed. Some is done with a single point cut in a parallel manner. You'll see that on Parkers and some Fox patterns.
Is it a one of a kind master piece? No I don't think so. But it's a nice looking job overall. The price?? That's up to the seller and buyer.
Other than the forend style, I like the rifle.
