An email from a friend who is an engraver.
Mike:
"Haven't had time to lurk for many a week, but dropped by and saw your thread on the Low Wall. Having looked at many different styles of engraving and studied them as best I can without many engravers to consult with, I think the level is better than the general run of comments. Couple of thoughts:
Literally all engravers anywhere at the time that piece was done were professionals who made a living at their trade. They did not have the luxury of time to pursue it as an avocation where untold hours as a hobbyist could produce exhibition level work (or have a patrone who would pay them for the best work they could produce). I remember reading about a Colt engraver taking several years to engrave a small .25 auto for himself - there simply wasn't time he could dedicate to his own project if he were to make a living (couldn't understand how that could be in the past, but am beginning to be there myself!). If you wander around the FEGA section in Reno, you will quickly find a large portion of engravers (as well as stockmakers and metalsmiths) have a pension of some sort, or do it as an avocation, making the bulk of their living in another manner. VERY FEW are capable of earning a complete living.
One thing not noted by anyone so far is that the metal has been sculpted in a similar fashion as that done by those tooling leather. Note many small, smooth, rounded marks on the figures and on certain scrolls. Not easy to be as even as this. These marks are made by a number of different sized rounded tools that peen the metal to shape it. A step upwards would be to use a burnisher and stones to smooth out those individual marks, but that adds time to the job. I doubt many engravers in the guild today could make wages on even that level of work..... (I know one masterful job done by a major guild engraver that took three years and produced about $20 an hour. lol) The background has been removed. It takes me about as along to remove background as it does to cut the scroll itself, basically doubling the time required. Easy rule of thumb when thinking about how to price a job.
I have always been a bit critical of those being critical unless they A. could do better themselves, or B. were willing to PAY for better. The guy whining about the price should ask a modern engraver to price the engraving job alone and see if he could get it done for the asking price of the entire rifle (I doubt if I'd take the job on for $14,000 - I think I'd be better off doing something else from the standpoint of money alone)."
