Engraving Price List from the 2013 Colt Custom Shop Catalog

I was looking through the Colt's Mfg. Co. website and downloaded their 2013 Colt Custom Shop price list. Here is the section on engraving prices. It would be interesting to know how much they add for a handling fee.

Doc, Interesting. These kinds of price lists can be very misleading to the consumer and some engravers and newbee engravers. Colt has a set of standards which give credence to "Master, Expert, and Standard" engravers. A Colt Master Engraver is an elite group of individuals who have proven to Colt that they deserve the title. The joker on Gunbroker who the lister call the engraver master engraver (lower case intentional) can be quit confusing to many. I spend an hour or two every month or so looking at the master engraver work on gun sale web sites and it can be quit appalling. Many of these masters should take the Hippocratic Oath of engraving and "do no harm". Some of the material I have gotten from FEGA over the years has had some stern but very worth while material warning on jumping into a trade that takes years to 'Master". They should be gathered and reprinted form the many FEGA sources they are in. Air assist does not make masters. Talent, time, practice and perseverance and a bit of luck make a Master and list of prices without examples can be quit misleading. Many truly fine engravers have discovered that they can't make a living on guns. The market is really rather small. For example, In the town I live in now is one of those individuals who taught Masters like Sam "TOS" and gave him his start. This is one of the biggest quail hunting plantation areas in the South with some of the wealthiest owners in the United States and this Master Engraver told me that he has never sold a gun here.

I know this is not the topic you intended but the price list brought it to mind. Sorry for the HIJACK Fred

Marrinan said:

This is one of the biggest quail hunting plantation areas in the South with some of the wealthiest owners in the United States and this Master Engraver told me that he has never sold a gun here.

Click to expand...

I was told an old adage years ago that seems to be true. You have to get at least 100 miles away from home before people perceive you as an expert. I've sold stuff all over the world and rarely if ever locally. I bet that's more common than not no matter what it is a person is selling.

I believe this is true, in that you'll never self sustain from engraving alone. While you may always have work if your lettering is exquisite, the guys I knew were either on social security with an engraving supplement, they had some sort of business or full time job, or their wives worked at Sears or some such place. In the area I live in, people will not pay such Colt prices for work, and many just want limited coverage which is understandable. Getting some work is better than getting nothing at all, and reasonable pricing helps. It depends on the economy where you live.

Expert

The version of "Expert" that I learned.
An Expert is anyone with a breifcase 300 miles from home.

Doc, that made me think of the news letter I got from Turnbull the other day. They are doing a series of 1911's with a little engraving. The C coverage is $1,500.00, and as slow as I am I could probably do in 2 or 3 hours (well the curved part on top of the slide might give me pause, I'm still working on my curves). But I know the real engravers here could probably do in an hour. Minimal shading, no background treatment, at all, none. It does look hand cut, and nicely cut for what I know, but $1,500.00, holy moly. And the write up says "Derived from early 20th Century 1911's engraved by Rudolph Kornbrath". I'm far, far from an expert, and it may well be just like something he did, but I've always liked Kornbrath's work, but that's not what I think when I see it.

Yeah, those written descriptions can be tricky. And I don't mean to be bashing Turnbull, I own a pair of their USFA's SAA collaborations, and they are beautiful.

Todd

The part I think is interesting (and a bit more relevant for most of us here) is the 'Engraving Options' section with the prices for things like a basic monogram.

Colt being Colt that monogram will definitely be first class work, but I'm sure many of the folks here who do first class work might want to take a second look at what they charge for the same kind of thing.

'Colt being Colt' is, though a big part of what people are paying for. When you go to Colt, or Doug Turnbull you know you're getting quality work and that your friends will be able to recognize that quality (even if only because they recognize the name)

KCSteve said:

The part I think is interesting (and a bit more relevant for most of us here) is the 'Engraving Options' section with the prices for things like a basic monogram.

Colt being Colt that monogram will definitely be first class work, but I'm sure many of the folks here who do first class work might want to take a second look at what they charge for the same kind of thing.

'Colt being Colt' is, though a big part of what people are paying for. When you go to Colt, or Doug Turnbull you know you're getting quality work and that your friends will be able to recognize that quality (even if only because they recognize the name)

Click to expand...

Steve,

I agree with you 100% .Thanks for your post.

Thanks for sharing, when I get good enough and charge someone, and when they think it's too much, ill show them this list, and surprise them.

Carlos De La O III

Doc...Don Glaser (GRS) called that the neighbor syndrome..."heck, he can't be all that good, he lives next to me!".