doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Interesting 1903 Kornbrath engraved, Wibener stock

I’m certainly no expert but what about the ‘engraved by kornbrath Hartford ct’ on the floor plate? Is that typical of his work?

The problem I see with the engraving is that the execution of the scrolls and animal is lifeless, not anything like his better work. He did not sign all his work, as I understand, and would most likely sign his better pieces.

So I am saying choose for yourself.

I get it, just trying to learn. Intriguing subject. Interesting rifle although out of my price range.

This thread went downhill in a hurry. How about expanding our knowledge of Kornbrath with a series of photographs explaining the faked up Kornbrath guns. A good start would be pictures of Griffin and Howe guns from the early days that Michael Petrov opined that most if not all engraved guns were done by Kornbrath. Thanks for the education. What happened to the "Kornbrath Files" that Michael apparently donated to the Cody museum? Are they available for research? I remember seeing those documents for sale at the Baltimore Show in the early sixties. Wow, that was what, sixty years ago? I was interested in them but the price was a little high for someone interested more in Parker shotguns than engraver history. I assume they went through several hands before getting to Michael. Were these early Griffin and Howe guns signed by Kornbrath or just identified by "style" and "excellence"?

Rudolph Kornbrath

G&H Kornbrath

Kornbrath Winchester

And there are many many more.

Here are some pictures I received from Dan asking me to post them for him:

His comment: "Here are a couple photos of my engraved Sman if you would like to post them to the forum Sman thread."

I agree with the above. The animal depictions are near Winchester 1950's in quality,,and that has often been described as cartoonish.
The scroll style is one he often cut but this example is not nearly as detailed and shaded as profusely as his normally seen work.
The edge simple clean line borders are not so much that and they are very wide unlike the very narrow ones he used when done so.

The stick lettered name placed in the border strikes me as an after thought of another engraver or on the orders of an owner trying to 'upgrade' what they had.

Look at some of Kornbrath's signitures on his work, they alone are works of art.

There's more work around signed and or attributed to Kornbrath and a few other well knowns than any could have done in 3 lifetimes.
Copying old work is no great trick, it's been done for centuries.
Oh,,the piece is Signed by the engraver ??,,How many do you want...

Thanks Kutter for lending your expertise.
In faked art it is often the brush strokes that distinguish between the real and the fake, "full of life" vs "Mechanical". I believe the "brush strokes" (engraver cuts) are just "Mechnical" in this work.

Is the springfield photo supposed to be a kornbrath engraved gun?

DanL can you answer the above question?
I believe the answer is going to be yes but not sure what provenance he has. I believe Michael P also had input on this rifle back in this thread:
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