How Many Engravers worked on this Model 9 Walther?

[emount]

Here is an interesting Walther Model 9 pistol. It appears that a trio of engravers did work on the gun each with less skill. The sides of the slide have very nice engraving with silver inlay. Then it appears that another craftsman added silver leaf and vine type decorations. Finally, someone has added some fairly plain cross hatching to the frame and the magazine bottom. This pistol has been examined by a number of pre-WWII firearms experts and the consensus is that the gun is authentic with the work being done before 1945.

I am interested to hear what the engraving community has to say about it.

Thanks for your interest. Earl

[Bert Edmonston]

I'd say there's only two engravers involved in the gun. The scroll and checkering on the sides all look to be by the same hand. The coarse style on the backstrap and top being by the other hand.

[Fred Marrinan]

It looks to me like the work of th Master Gun Engrave" who always has work on Gunbroker. The one working out of one of the Carolinas and sometimes Florida. I think he added the silver when it did not sell. Just guessing mind you but reminds me of his work, Fred

[GeneC]

Looks like early 1940s Germany, probably handed out as gifts. I don't think top quality was a requirement.

[Roger Bleile]

There is nothing about the engraving on this gun that indicates work by a German trained engraver. Firstly, the scrollwork is neither grund Englisch nor druck Englisch. I have never seen a German cut oak leaves (eichenlaub) in that way. The silver inlay on the backstrap is very amateurish. No German gun factory would ever accept such crude work, even in WWII. One of my German guns was made in 1943 and the quality of the engraving is no less than pre or post war. European engravers are held to standards and are not allowed to hack up guns. Even their quick and simple engraving shows adherence to standards of strict training. The work on this Walther was undoubtedly done in the US where any hacker is free to butcher a gun. That said some of the world's best engravers have and do work in the US. The problem here is that nearly everyone is self taught and there is no one to enforce standards.

[JRon]

Well said Roger_JR