doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com London vs Birmingham engraving

Here's a boxlock , I think marked as Henry Morris the maker. [picture picked off internet] Quite a bit of similarity compared to the Edwin Smith sidelock engraving. Thanks to gunman for his thoughts on Henry Morris. I'm sure he has handled many with Morris engraving. Both the Edwin Smith gun and the Henry Morris gun are actually quite rare as both of these men made or engraved guns usually for marking by others.

A fair criticism that has been laid about some of the engraving on older , thats pre 1900 guns , is that birds in game scenes look like bottles with wings .But it is a fair comment to say that the only pheasants and partridge many of these men had seen were those hanging up in the butchers window .

Gunman , a very true fact indeed .
I am a long time friend of John & Brian Wiseman , Brian was an apprentice of Henry Morris . Interestingly although both of us are in our late 70's Brian ALWAYS refers to Henry Morris as Mr. Morris because that is all he was ever allowed to address the MASTER as .
Interestingly, many of the Birmingham artisans NEVER saw a live animal , I will always remember travelling by train from Birmingham to Wolverhampton and as we approached Tipton on the outskirts of Birmingham some children let out a loud scream and rushed to the window , I looked up to see what had caused the commotion , it was a horse beside the canal and the first time the children had seen a real live horse.

I don't think that's a great excuse... even though the depictions of birds that look like flying turnips is better than I could do. There was a real interest in ornithology in England in those pre-1900 years, and all one needed to do was go to a Museum or look in a book to see what most species of game birds looked like. Accurately cutting that image into steel would be the hard part. Audobon published his first book in 1827.

Daryl's E. Smith and Sons gun is beautiful.

Access to books wasn't guaranteed to engravers in 19th century England, and piecework is how most engravers were paid. The Kell shop is credited with bringing more life to the game scenes, but other engravers were developing more life like renditions. Sumner, WW Greener, WC Scott and Kell produced work that buyers were willing to pay for and to add a distinction and value to there individual products. There was a definite change in the trade around the 1890's. Just my opinion.

Wow Mark Sentences!! Well done brother. Did your editor help with that one

Yes ,yes she did:)

If you scroll back to the picture of G.E. Lewis and Sons you can see to the lower left a sign of ???ord and Jones, Polishers. What type of business was the “polisher?”

Not everyone is (was) Winston Churchill.

Best,
Ted

Could polishers be prepping guns for engraving or case hardening?