New Member wants to learn about engraving

[emount]

Greetings,
I came across this Forum while doing some research on engraved Walther Model 9 pistols and decided to join so that I could learn more about the engraving process. In the past year or so there were a couple of posts on this site dealing with engraved and engraving Walther Model 9 pistols. I know almost nothing about engraving but I know a whole lot about Walther Model 9's.

Alas, I fear that I am never going to learn how to engrave. I lost the sight in my left eye a few years back and fine work like engraving is now beyond my abilities. But I am interested in learning about engraving.

As a collector of pre-WWII Walther firearms I have come across a many engraved examples and I am amazed how little the collecting community understands about engraving. There is a great deal of debate about when and where and who engraved certain pieces. I hope that here I can learn some of the details about the engraving process past and present.

Finally, I have had inquiries about the process of engraving existing pistols to enhance their beauty and value. I would like to learn about how to go about having a pistol engraved.

So, I hope that I will be welcomed to the site. I hope my presence here will not be a distraction to the Forum's goals.

Regards, Earl

[Roger Bleile]

Earl,

Welcome to this forum. One way to learn about engraving is to visit the engraving glossary. Just click on the word Glossary in red above. Also my book American Engravers-The 21st century is full of information about how gun engraving is done and includes quite a bit of historical information on the subject. You can order the book at this link: http://airgraver.com/american_engrav...st-Century.htm

You are absolutly correct when you wrote "I am amazed how little the collecting community understands about engraving." Collectors frequently misattribute who engraved a gun. Even the experts on specific guns who know every minute detail of their specialty often misstate styles, techniques, and the age of a gun's engraving.

I have added images below of a Walther model 9 engraved by the contemporary German engraver Claus Willig. The auction site that listed it stated that "C.Willig must have been high ranking in the Hitler regime to rate such an engraved gun!" Claus was born in 1939 so he was six years old at the end of the war. So much for their expertise about engraving.

[emount]

Roger,

Thank you for the kind and spot-on response to my introduction. I now know that I am in the right place. I had a chance to handle the C. Willig pistol last May at the Denver Gunshow. It is beautiful, but not consistent with engraved Walther pistols that to the best of my knowledge are actual factory, pre-1940 engraved pistols. My suspicions that the gun is "too good" to be an authentic pre-war deluxe pistol have been confirmed. I will post pictures of some engraved Model 9's from my collection for you and the other interested Forum members to look at.

I will take some time to study the information available on this site and learn about the engraving process so that in the future I can bring some some intelligent questions and dialog to this Forum.

Thanks again,
Earl

[Roger Bleile]

Earl,

I am interested in the provenance of #411411 in the first picture. The scrollwork does not look Germanic to me. The scrolls are too "head heavy." To me it looks like it was done by an Ameerican engraver.

The gun in the middle looks like it was engraved in Germany. The picture of the gun on the right is too small for me to comment on.

The gun I posted by Claus Willig, while done post war, is in a German style known in Suhl/Zella as "grund Englische." Pre war German guns will often be engraved in that style.

Roger

[emount]

Roger,

Thanks for the response.
I purchased the Walther Model 9 411411 at a Greg Martin auction several years ago. The pistol came out of a large collection that belonged to a wealthy fellow from California who had passed away. The mother-of-pearl grips are original Walther grips, but not original to this gun. The gun was manufactured in 1921, the first year of production. I can not say when it arrived in America. I assumed that it was a GI bring back at the end of WWII. But some Model 9's were imported into the US from 1921 until 1938 or '39. Imported guns all have a tiny "MADE IN GERMANY" stamp. But if the gun was engraved in the US then the engraving might have erased the import stamp. It is a truly lovely piece.

Model 9 651216 was brought back in 1945 by a released American POW who traded for it when he got out of prison. It is authentic in every way.

The third Walther in the pictures, serial number 414817, is a very interesting pistol showing engraving done by probably three different engravers of varying skill. I will post pictures of this pistol under a separate heading.

Regards, Earl