Winston Churchill and Joe Fugger

Sam

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A conversation i had with Winston about 20 years ago came to mind today. We were talking about his tenure at Griffen & Howe when he was working with Joe Fugger.

Joe had trained in Ferlach, Austria and had worked for the great Rudolph Kornbrath. While he didn't exactly train Winston, he was the master of the shop.

Winston, a very soft spoken and humble guy, had great respect for Joe Fugger. He said "I laid at his feet".

The rest of the story is that Winston went on to become the greatest engraver America has ever known (IMO). The story of his humbleness and respect says an awful lot.
 

GTJC460

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I learn things every day. The day you stop learning and doing is the day one becomes a has been and obsolete.

It's really quite a shame there's not really any apprenticeship type program for gun engravers in America today. There just isn't enough being done at factories or from shops like Ken Hurst used to run. It's become a "cottage industry"

I sure hope GRS revives their grand master program in 2016 as that's the closest thing America has to it.
 

SamW

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I met Winston a few times but only briefly and have never had the pleasure of getting to know him. As to my opinion of his engraving...a number of times at shows people have shown me work some upcoming engraver had done for them and the comment was always 'this engraver will be the next Churchill' and my thought was always...well at least we all agree Winston is the Best!!
 

tim halloran

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Blue Grass, IOWA
Sam: I took his Grand Masters class in 2005. Not only is he one of the best living Engravers today, he is pretty handy with a guitar, a bull whip, and is an incredible photographer. He told some pretty good stories while I was there also. One of the best parts of the class was the fact that you were there also, so I got to have two world class instructors that week.
 

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