Question: S&W Registered .357; Who done it?

Roger Bleile · Aug 15, 2010

I came across this picture of an S&W Registered .357 Magnum made pre WWII. It is up for auction at Rock Island Auctions in September.

It is not factory engraved but I think the engraving may have been done some time back. The style is pretty unusual but I don't recognize it. The large leaves on the cylinder facets are pretty distinctive. Anybody out there have a clue? How about you Barry, John B, Ken Hurst, Marty, Sam, Rex, or anybody else? This one has me stumped.

Thanks,

Roger

Barry Lee Hands · Aug 15, 2010

Donno. . . .

fegarex · Aug 15, 2010

And I was going to say this was a VERY early BLH attempt at the "inductive three segment leaf" but I guess I was wrong.
Sorry Barry!

Seriously, I don't know either. I would guess a Euro trained/born engraver however.

JJ Roberts · Aug 15, 2010

Roger,It looks like Wilbur Glahn's engraving. J.J.

Ken Hurst · Aug 15, 2010

Have never seen such design --- dunno.

pilkguns · Aug 15, 2010

It's nice pattern, and obviously not cut by an amatuer. I could go with JJ's guess of Glahn or someone from that area/experience, a mostly factory engraver,

Roger Bleile · Aug 15, 2010

JJ,

I can see where a few of the leaves have a slight Glahn impression but I have never seen anyone, especially Glahn do a cylinder like that. The gun is in the right time period for Glahn but he was master of the Colt engraving shop at the time. I don't have any examples of Glahn's work on an S&W.

You can see that the cutting was pretty clean so the engraver knew his way around a chisel but overall the design is very unconventional. Maybe a die engraver did it as a one off piece.

Roger

Bunic · Aug 15, 2010

This quote is from a recent firearms forum. It may have an answer as to who dunnit... Is there a triangle?

"Hi, this is one of two saa colts i want to purchase,it has a full coverage engraving,the caliber is 38 -40 c. serial nmbr is 302412,it seems to me that the engraving was done in the 40's or 50's,this engraving feels much smoother than the other colts,it has genuine raised ivory grips with bird motif
the barrel is in good condition,signs of use but good rifling and no pitting in overall condition looks is very good
searching on the net i found this gun that was auctioned,the gun had a simular like engraving,they said that the triangular motif is the trade mark for Wilbur Glahn,the gun has another mark under the backstrap
Is this a Wilbur Glahn engraved colt?,and what could be the value on this gun?
thanks"

John B. · Aug 15, 2010

Sorry Roger, don't have a clue on this one.
Best.

Marcus Hunt · Aug 15, 2010

It wasn't me!

Roger Bleile · Aug 15, 2010

Mike,

This is the kind of speculation you hear when gun collectors try to guess about engraving. "this engraving feels much smoother than the other colts" I wonder what he thinks the significance of that observation is and how many engraved Colts he has felt of?

Colts of that vintage had a triangular stamp at the root of the triggerguard. Inside the triangle were very small letters VP. This was the Colt proof mark. "Verified proof" I have never heard of Glahn signing with a triangular stamp. He he did sometimes use a triangular motif in conjunction with his scroll which you can see in the attached pictures however I have seen more Glahn guns without it than with it. I have also seen other engravers use similar. I also posted a pic of another Glahn gun that shows the proof mark on the triggerguard but no triangles in the scroll.

Compare the known Glahn engraving below with that of the S&W.

Roger

KCSteve · Aug 16, 2010

In my decidedly non-expert opinion the mystery gun doesn't look like it was done by the same engraver - the S curves are just totally different in feel between the known and unknown.

handengraver · Aug 28, 2010

I jus-donno-who - but here is my guess of what kind of engraver, if anybody cares:

The job had to be done by a very seasoned engraver, using obviously some stone-age tools. I see some motives in the design that might originate in Southern Europe, or even from the Middle East. The simplified Acantus leaves on the cylinder look much like the ones used to decorate silver trays and holloware at the beginning of the last century. Since it is decorating a S&W, my guess is that it was done by a new immigrant engraver of those days. Perhaps it was the only gun that he ever engraved for a friend or for his new boss. One thing is for sure: he might have never seen an engraved American firearm before he engaged in this task. Otherwise the then dominant Austrian and German style of scrolls and ornaments would have surely influenced his layout.

On the other hand, I might be completely wrong, but what's new about that?

Greetings - Ivan

Roger Bleile · Aug 28, 2010

Ivan,

I think your assessment is as good as any so far. I suppose that engraver will be forever in the "unknown" catagory.

This goes back to the call to sign your work on collectable items. People actually care who did it even if they've never heard of you. If one feels that their work is not good enough to claim it with a signature then such a person should not be engraving guns and should stick to practice pieces which could include inexpensive muzzle loaders like kit guns or cap & ball replicas. The person who engraved the subject S&W (no earlier than 1935) was good enough to sign. Their design work is unconventional but the engraving is OK.

RB

Question: S&W Registered .357; Who done it?

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