For the prices high-grade engraved guns go for these days through dealers or at auction, I would not touch one unless it was signed if I were looking for a specific engraver or just wanted a documented engraved gun, either one. A lot of auctions over the past few years have featured unsigned guns that are "attibuted" to so-and-so but without an ironclad provenance you are wasting your time. A few of the earlier high-grade merican double guns were "ghost-signed" (e.g., hidden) by the Goughs, Ed Latham, Joseph Loy and other masters because most manufacturers of the era would not permit individual signatures on a gun. It was a Parker Gun, for example, not a Gough gun, was the explanation. It is possible to conjecture with some degree of accuracy who engraved these earlier guns by studying individual engraving styles over the years then comparing them to the gun in hand. The forehead treatment on Joseph Loy's dogs, especially spaniels, is a good example. So far as the modern Italian masters go, I don't believe I've seen a gun in the last 15 years that the engraver did not sign as a proud verification of his artistic expression. KBM
