Traditional hand engraving on a Bond Arms .38 Special with Masonic designs of the square and compasses, and the sun and moon.
Gun Engraving: Colt Model 1862 Police Revolver
The ornate brass grip of this pistol features a female figure representing Christianity and Justice. John Quincy Adams Ward created the original model of the grip for a pair of pistols presented by President Abraham Lincoln to the governor of Adrianople (present-day Edirne, Turkey) in 1864. The grip of the pistol displayed here was probably cast from the same mold shortly after that. Ward was relatively unknown at the time, but soon became one of America's most celebrated sculptors.
Reproduced by permission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Gun Engraving: "Wells Fargo" Colt Revolver
In 1835 and 1836, the American inventor and industrialist Samuel Colt (1814–1862) patented a revolutionary type of multishot pistol that is still used today. Colt's revolvers had a rotating cylinder that could be loaded with several rounds and fired quickly by cocking and releasing the hammer or, in later models, by simply pulling the trigger. Early Colt firearms used percussion ignition and had to be loaded with powder, bullets, and ignition caps in separate operations. After 1870, Colt models were produced for self-contained cartridges that are much like modern pistol ammunition.
First manufactured by Colt's factory in Peterson, New Jersey (1836–42), from 1847, the revolvers were made at a much larger plant in Hartford, Connecticut. A special workshop at the Hartford factory employed highly skilled decorators and artisans, many of German origin. Their ornamental motifs, still popular in American gunmaking, centered on fine scrollwork. Animal and human figures and allegorical images were added to floral scrolls, sometimes enhanced with gold and silver inlay, particularly on deluxe firearms made for exhibition and display or as personal gifts from Colt to prominent individuals, including several heads of state.
Reproduced by permission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Gun Engraving: Colt Model 1851 Navy Percussion Revolver
Gustave Young (1827–1895), a German-born craftsman, engraved firearms with intricate and elaborate ornament for Colt in Hartford, Connecticut, and Smith & Wesson in Springfield, Massachusetts. His posthumous fame among firearms collectors caused the decoration on many pieces to be misattributed to his hand. Therefore, as one of the few documented examples of Young's work, this pistol is of primary importance as a touchstone for understanding his style and technique.
Reproduced by permission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Gun Engraving: Gold-inlaid Colt Pocket Revolver
This Model 1849 Pocket Revolver belongs to a rarefied group of Colt percussion firearms decorated with profuse engraving, relief carving, and flush or low relief gold inlay, of which about twenty examples are known to survive. Made at Samuel Colt’s (1814–1862) direction for exhibition at international fairs and for presentation to important officials and foreign and domestic heads of state, including the kings of Sweden and Denmark and the Czar of Russia, they functioned as diplomatic gifts and demonstrations of the company’s artistic and technical achievements.
The pistol is one of two gold-inlaid Colts donated by The Robert M. Lee Foundation to The Met in honor of the Museum’s 150th anniversary. The revolvers rank among the most significant additions to the Museum’s American firearms collection in decades due to their great rarity as a type, the richness of their decoration, and their historical significance.
The American gunmaker, inventor, industrialist, and entrepreneur Samuel Colt redefined the technology and manufacture of firearms in the mid-nineteenth century, inventing innovative revolvers with interchangeable parts and elegant, durable designs. He also pioneered effective and sometimes controversial new methods of publicizing and promoting his products, utilizing celebrity endorsements, seeking out armed conflicts around the world and marketing weapons to opposing sides simultaneously, and harnessing consumers’ attentiveness to aesthetics by designing his firearms to be visually appealing, giving them attractive forms and variously blued, case-hardened, and polished steel finished, sometimes inlaid and elaborately engraved.
Colt displayed his firearms at international fairs, including the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London and New York’s Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in 1853. He also made gifts of his products, usually decorated examples, to powerful individuals in positions to purchase or retail his firearms in quantity or influence their sale, and over the course of his lifetime, hundreds of pistols were given away by Colt, his company, and his family, to these ends. The small group of gold-inlaid pistols made during Colt’s lifetime, of which the Museum’s pocket pistol is one example, represent the apex of this category of exhibition and presentation Colt firearms.
The revolver’s serial number (63306) follows in sequence that of another gold-decorated Model 1849 revolver (63305), one of three gold-inlaid pistols Colt presented to Czar Nicholas I at Gatchina Palace on October 30, 1854, preserved in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The two other gold-inlaid pistols presented to the Czar are a Third Model Dragoon revolver (12407) and Model 1851 Navy revolver (20131). The two Colt pistols long considered mates to these revolvers are in The Metropolitan’s collection (12406 and 20133, respectively).
The Museum’s gold-inlaid pistols’ history as exhibition or presentation pieces in the mid-nineteenth century remains undocumented, absent firm historical records like those which survive for the Hermitage group (See Wilson and Tarassuk, The Russian Colts, 1979), and because, in part, like nearly all other gold-inlaid Colt pistols, including the Hermitage group, the Museum’s revolvers do not feature dedicatory inscriptions. Many of Colt’s more modest presentation revolvers are inscribed with the name of the recipient on the backstrap.
The Museum’s pocket pistol is one of six known gold-inlaid Model 1849 revolvers. The serial numbers and locations of the other five revolvers are as follows: 63271 [private collection]; 63303 [Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles]; 63305 [State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg]; 67498 [private collection]; 71746 [Connecticut State Library]. Each is uniquely decorated with engraved scrollwork and five of the pistols feature gold-inlaid animal motifs. Like the other Model 1849 pistols in this group, the scrollwork on the Museum’s pistol frame and barrel assembly is relief carved as opposed to engraved so that it stands proud of the background—a feature that, in addition to the pistol’s gold accents, distinguishes it from the hundreds of finely engraved presentation firearms produced by the company.
The scrollwork tendrils decorating the Museum’s pistol terminate in animal heads and are interspersed with seven gold inlaid and engraved animals: a fox, pheasant, leopard, bear, dog, eagle, and wolverine (?). The author of the scrollwork and gold inlay (and possibly the cylinder engraving) on this pistol and indeed all gold-inlaid firearms made during Colt’s lifetime has remained a topic of debate among scholars for decades, with Gustave Young (1827–1895), Herman Bodenstein (1829–1865), and John Marr (1831–1921) emerging as possible candidates. Young engraved for Colt from 1853–58, Bodenstein from 1852–55 and 1856–65, and Marr from 1853–55.
The cylinder is hand-engraved with the standard stagecoach robbery scene found on factory-decorated Model 1849 pocket revolvers of this period, though on typical Model 1849s the image is roll-engraved. The scene was designed by Waterman Lilly Ormsby (1809–83), an engraver with specialization in bank notes who worked for Colt since at least 1839. In addition to the stage coach robbery scene, Ormsby also designed for Colt the equally iconic cavalry and naval battle scenes roll-engraved on the cylinders of factory-decorated Holster and Belt Model Pistols. These designs became so well-known that the Holster and Belt revolvers became officially and popularly known as the Dragoon and Navy pistols, respectively.
Though much of the pistol’s original deeply blued surface finish has faded, traces of bluing are still visible, particularly on the top flats of the barrel near the muzzle and in the recesses of the cylinder.
The Model 1849 Pocket Pistol, introduced in 1848 and remaining in production until 1872, was one of Colt’s most popular firearms with more than 300,000 produced. Available with four-, five-, or six-inch barrels, its small size made it practical pistol for self-defense—a point its cylinder scene was intended to demonstrate, with the driver defending himself and his passenger and property with a pistol.
This pistol is one of four gold-inlaid Colt firearms in The Metropolitan’s collection. The others include the aforementioned Third Model Dragoon revolver (12406) (acc. no. 1995.336) and Model 1851 Navy revolver (20133) (acc. no. 2018.856.2a), and a Model 1862 Police Revolver (38549) (acc. no. 2014.699) made ca. 1868, after Colt’s death. The collection also includes a pull from a Colt Dragoon frame believed to have been taken from a lost gold-inlaid revolver.
Reproduced by permission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Gun Engraving: Colt Dragoon Percussion Revolver
Samuel Colt (1814–1862) was one of the most famous and successful American inventors and entrepreneurs of the early industrial age. By patenting the first mass-produced multishot revolving firearms, Colt achieved worldwide fame and a vast personal fortune. His introduction of precise machine-made weapons and his promotion of the interchangeability of parts were innovations that transformed the arms industry. Colt actively promoted sales through advertising and displays at international fairs, and by presenting deluxe arms to men of influence. His precise and reliable standard-model revolvers were highly valued by soldiers and frontiersmen. His more elaborately embellished exhibition and presentation arms appealed as functional objects of beauty.
Early American arms usually were plain, serviceable weapons intended for hunting and self-defense. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, the increasing wealth and sophistication of the middle class created a new demand for decorated arms. English and German designs initially served as models for American arms decoration. A new era of creativity began with the arrival of German-born gun engravers and die-cutters, who joined Colt's engraving staff at the Hartford, Connecticut factory beginning in about 1853. In addition to embellishing standard models, these engravers created some of Colt's most lavish and ambitious gold-inlaid arms, which were intended for promotional display or for presentation to influential citizens, politicians, and heads of state. The finest decorated Colt revolvers typically have blued steel surfaces deeply engraved with dense foliate scrollwork, with motifs such as human figures, animals and birds, and invariably, Colt's name inlaid in gold set flush with the surface. On the most luxurious examples, some of the gold was modeled in relief, resembling sculpture in miniature.
This Dragoon model revolver and its mate (presented to the Czar of Russia) are considered among Colt's masterpieces. Apparently, they were created as part of a set of three pairs of gold-inlaid revolvers that Colt took with him to Europe in 1854. That year saw the outbreak of the Crimean War, which pitted Russia against Turkey and her allies, Great Britain and France. Colt aggressively marketed arms to both sides. In November 1854, he presented three gold-inlaid revolvers, one example from each pair, to Czar Nicholas I of Russia. Of these, the Third Model Dragoon serial number 12407 (now in The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg) is actually the mate to the Museum’s pistol, serial number 12406. The gift clearly demonstrated the technical and artistic aspects of Colt’s product, while its patriotic motifs proudly proclaimed its American origin. The museum's pistol features a portrait of George Washington and the Arms of the United States, while on the Czar's pistol there are a view of America's capitol building and a personification of American industry.
Reproduced by permission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Gun Engraving: Smith & Wesson Model 1 ½ Second Issue Revolver
This pistol belongs to an exclusive group of Smith and Wesson revolvers with extensive engraved and gold inlaid decoration, produced for display at international exhibitions and as gifts to heads of state, celebrities, and important company officials in the late 1860s and 1870s. Smith and Wesson presented one to President Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) in 1870 (now in the Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, CA, acc. no. 2012.2.31) and it is likely that The Met's revolver, decorated in a nearly identical fashion by the same engraver one year earlier, inspired its design.
The decoration was executed by the German-American engraver Gustave Young (1827–1895), who emigrated to the United States in 1853 and engraved for Colt from 1853–1858 before his long association with Smith and Wesson. This pistol stands out as one of his greatest achievements and, more broadly, testifies to European immigrants' central role in shaping American firearms' decorative traditions from the 1850s forward. Like other American firearms from this era decorated by immigrant engravers trained in Germany, including Colt revolvers and Winchester rifles in The Met's collection, its engraving echoes contemporary trends in western European firearms decoration and derives from designs published in German and Belgian firearms pattern books of the 1840s–50s.
Preserved with its original case fitted with dummy rounds that further confirm its intended use as a display piece, the revolver features a monogram on the left side of its frame that has yet to be deciphered.
Reproduced by permission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Gun Engraving: Smith and Wesson .44 Double-Action Revolver
Unlike other handguns known to have been custom-decorated by Tiffany & Co., this revolver does not appear to have been designed for display in one of the the great world's fairs, but intended for the personal use of the American railroad magnate George Jay Gould (1864–1923), whose initials may be seen on a cartouche behind the hammer, and on the lid of the companion case. The revolver is exceptional in having a grip sheathed in etched and engraved sterling silver adorned with plaques of carved ivory, as well as the exterior of its main steel parts silvered overall. It is a spectacular representative of Tiffany's "Saracenic" works in silver, the ornamentation of which was inspired by Islamic architecture and objects.
Reproduced by permission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Gun Engraving: Smith & Wesson .44 Double-Action by Tiffany & Co.
This revolver is exceptional as one of the most elaborate Tiffany-decorated firearms of the late nineteenth century. Made for Smith & Wesson’s display at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, the pistol stands as an unrivaled example of the silver firm’s distinct contribution to the decoration of American firearms. This transformative gift to The Met from the Robert M. Lee Foundation not only deepens the Museum’s holdings of Tiffany-decorated guns, as a masterpiece in its category it expands The Met’s ability to tell stories about design in America during the late nineteenth century and to explore the intersections between fine art, industry, engineering, and weaponry.
The revolver marks a peak in Tiffany’s tradition of selling decorated weapons, which by 1893 had been a staple of the firm’s product offerings for nearly fifty years. Tiffany had played a leading role in the design and sale of decorated weapons in the United States since the 1840s. During and after the Mexican War (1846–48) and in the wake of the Civil War (1861–65), the firm was the foremost American supplier of presentation swords, and beginning in the early 1860s it initiated partnerships with the American firearms manufacturers Colt, Derringer, and Smith & Wesson, becoming a major pistol retailer.
Archival evidence suggests that Tiffany decorated handguns in the 1860s and 1870s, but no Tiffany-marked firearm from this period is known and many may have been sold unmarked, with their factory finishes. The firm further expanded its firearms offerings in the 1880s, collaborating with Smith & Wesson and other makers to sell pistols customized with elaborately decorated grips made of silver and other precious materials. Intended for wealthy customers and for promoting the firm's creativity and know-how at international exhibitions, the finest examples rank among Tiffany’s most accomplished works of the 1880s–90s and reflect key styles established by the firm’s lead designer, Edward C. Moore (1827–1891), including the Saracenic and Japaneseque. The eight Tiffany pistols in The Met’s collection together express the great range of materials, techniques, and artistic inspirations employed by Tiffany’s designers under Moore and soon after his death. They also capture the prestige of American firearms in the late nineteenth century, which were lauded domestically and overseas for their fine engineering and exceptional quality and recognized as exemplars of America’s industrial might.
At the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, Tiffany & Co. promoted its work with leading American firearms manufacturers Smith & Wesson and Winchester. Its display featured two Winchester rifles and a suite of nine Smith & Wesson revolvers, each uniquely decorated with silver or iron mounts. Three are preserved in The Met’s collection: acc. nos. 2010.482; 2013.902; 2013.903a, b. For display in Smith & Wesson’s booth Tiffany decorated an additional ten revolvers, some with grips incorporating embossed leather and carved wood.
This pistol was a centerpiece of Smith & Wesson’s exhibit, showcased inside of its chamois-lined case in the middle of the company’s primary vitrine. Superlative among the group of revolvers Tiffany decorated for Smith & Wesson’s display, its image was used in Smith & Wesson’s printed promotions. The company featured it on the cover of their Fair catalogue (Description and Prices of Finely Decorated Revolvers Prepared for World’s Fair, —At Chicago, 1893), in which it is listed for sale for $425, making it the costliest Tiffany pistol in Smith & Wesson’s exhibit. Smith & Wesson also pictured the revolver in an advertisement in The Youth’s Companion, where its decoration is described as being of "Ancient Moorish design" (The Youth’s Companion, World’s Fair, Extra Number, Boston, May 4, 1893, in advertisement on cover).
Comprehensively adorned, its grip, trigger, and hammer are encased with sterling silver mounts embossed and chased with profuse floral motifs, with a large piece of ivory delicately carved in the Saracenic style forming the butt. The barrel and cylinder are etched to match. The pistol retains its case and cleaning rod.
Tiffany’s elaborate silver pistol grips represented a groundbreaking new direction for American firearms decoration, departing from the well-established tradition of embellishing guns by engraving and inlaying directly into their steel surfaces. Tiffany pistols’ construction thus warrants explanation. Following the delivery of a pistol from Smith & Wesson’s Springfield factory to Tiffany’s New York studio, Tiffany craftsmen removed the pistol’s hard rubber grip, filed down the steel frame beneath, and replaced the grip with a "sleeve" of sculpted metal, usually of silver and often incorporating other materials. Tiffany craftsmen etched and silvered the cylinder and barrel en suite on the most luxurious commissions.
This novel approach enabled designers to radically transform the shape and materials of a gun by essentially building a miniature sculpture around it. The firearm remained perfectly functional, although the ornamentation did not improve its ergonomics. The tension between Tiffany’s handmade decorative mounts and Smith & Wesson's finely engineered machine-made components no doubt appealed to the firm’s wealthy customers.
Adding to this revolver’s interest, soon after the Exposition’s closing Smith & Wesson presented it as a gift to Walter W. Winans (1852–1920), the celebrated American collector, author, artist, Olympian, and champion marksman.
Smith & Wesson described the motivation for the gift in a personal letter to Winans dated December 6, 1893:
"…It will give us great pleasure if you will accept this arm with our compliments as a token of our admiration for your skill with the revolver and also as a slight return for services rendered us by the prominence which your splendid record at the target has given to our name and work. We feel that we are indebted to you in no slight degree for the manner in which you have demonstrated the ability of the Smith & Wesson revolver to more than hold its own against all comers and shall be pleased if you allow us to express our appreciation in this way."
Winans subsequently illustrated the revolver in the 1911 edition of his book The Art of Revolver Shooting, describing it as "the most ornamental revolver I have ever seen."
Reproduced by permission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Gun Engraving: Bond Arms 9mm Roughneck
This Bond Arms Roughneck 9mm was engraved for a hot rod builder and gun collector client of mine here in Central Texas. He wanted something that captured the spirit of the vintage Chevy’s he specializes in. In addition to the hand engraved artwork, I added a custom patina finish.
Gun Engraving: Pair of Flintlock Pistols
The Highland warriors of Scotland carried distinctive arms. Their pistols, unlike those made elsewhere in Great Britain, were constructed entirely from metal, usually steel, and were engraved and often silver-inlaid with geometric and foliate ornament of Celtic inspiration. This pair, signed by the renowned gunmaker Campbell of Doune, Perthshire, is a classic example of the type. Among the defining features are the scrolled "ram's-horn" butts, button-shaped triggers (without trigger guards), decorative pierced rosettes behind the head of the cock, and belt hooks mounted on the side opposite the locks. These pistols are also noteworthy for their American association. The grips bear silver plaques inscribed Abrᵐ M. Embury/New York 1830, identifying them as having belonged to a member of a distinguished New York family. The pistols' unusually crisp condition testifies to their preservation as treasured heirlooms for almost two centuries.
Reproduced by permission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Gun Engraving: Double-Barrel Breech-Loading Pinfire Shotgun
The Second Empire (1852–70) marked the twilight of French gunmaking, which had dominated the design of European firearms since the period of Louis XIV. Parisian gunmakers consistently employed the finest contemporary designers, silversmiths, sculptors, and engravers to transform functional hunting and target weapons into works of art. This exquisitely decorated shotgun reflects the period's predilection for historical revivals––in this case, the style of Louix XV. Especially noteworthy is the harmonious combination of Rococo ornamental vocabulary and blue-and-gold coloring, which together evoke eighteenth-century taste. Exhibited by Brun at the Exposition Universelle of 1867, the gun is actually a collaborative work by several of the leading artists and craftsmen of the time: the damascus twist barrels are by Léopold Bernard; the overall design and the intricately chiseled steel mounts are by the goldsmiths François-Auguste and François-Joseph-Louis Fannière; and the delicate engravings on the barrels and mounts, encrusted in two-color gold, are by the engraver Tissot.
Reproduced by permission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Gun Engraving Tools of Louis D. Nimschke
In gun engraving, Louis Nimschke is regarded as one of the best of the best.
This set of engraving tools belonged to Louis Daniel Nimschke, the renowned German-American engraver who specialized in the decoration of firearms. Nimschke undoubtedly used these tools to create most if not all of the engraved designs in his workbook, which he compiled as a record of his own work and other artists’ designs that inspired him. Together, the tools and workbook offer an invaluable and unique window into the creative and technical processes of one of the most talented engravers of the nineteenth century.
The set comprises sixty-two specialized tools including hammers, planishers, files, gravers, punches, and calipers, some stamped with manufacturers names. Several Nimschke inscribed with his initials and a date.
As the production of firearms became increasingly industrialized in the United States in the 1850s, customers seeking to personalize their machine-made guns turned to independent engravers like Nimschke to add original embellishment. Nimschke was preeminent among this new class of artisan, earning fame as a firearms engraver before major American arms manufacturers like Winchester and Colt began to offer organized, cost-effective factory embellishment options for their customers. He immigrated to the United States from Germany (via Liverpool) in 1853 and spent almost his entire adult life in New York City. Over the course of his career from around 1850 through around 1900 he embellished hundreds of firearms by dozens of arms makers including Colt, Winchester, Smith & Wesson, Remington, Marlin, New Haven Arms Co., Marston, Reid, Moore, Whitney, Spencer, Freund, D. Fish, A. G. Genez, and others.
Nimschke trained at the Industrial School in Zella, Thuringia, Germany, where he studied under the master, Ernst Moritz. There he also trained under Gustav Ernst, a preeminent instructor responsible for the development of a number of Germany’s most distinguished industrial artists who, like Nimschke, would go on to settle in the U.S. in the late 1840s–50s and create what later became known as the "American" style of firearms engraving. The famous firearms engraver Gustave Young (1827–1895), for example, was also a pupil of Ernst. Nimschke’s personal copy of Ernst’s influential 1850 pattern book, Musterblätter enthaltend die anwendbarsten Jagdstücke u. Arabesken für Büchsenschäfter, Graveure etc., which perhaps more than any other printed source informed the engraving styles of these northern European immigrants, is also preserved in the collection of the Arms and Armor Department.
Reproduced by permission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art