Did you ever consider the reason guns were engraved? Was it to decorate them, or did it have a more practical purpose. I was told engraving was done to breakup the surface smooth area and help hold oil on the surface to protect the gun. Looking at the number of bores which have been honed to death to get rid of pitting and rust in general I can see that this had a real value. The decorative beauty of engraving I think was more of a after thought.