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Old 09-07-2011, 08:28 AM
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DCWilson DCWilson is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Orange County, CA
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Keith, I went back and read your other posts from when you acquired this gun. My apologies for having forgotten what you said about it previously; I remember thinking when I looked at previous threads where it was featured, "I'll never forget that one."

I am now more inclined to think that this engraving is not Asian, but was done by Orville Kuhl as you suspect. The multi-colored six-petal flowers seem diagnostic of work associated with his name, and I found other .38/44 OD specimens and .357RMs on which he worked his magic. I see that he was in business with his son; possibly the innovative leaf designs on your gun reflect the son's work rather than the father's; I don't know but just raise the possibility. If the father was the master and the son the trainee, perhaps the sculpted animals on other guns were Orville's, and the six-petal flowers (which I suspect may have been a little easier to execute) may be his son's work.

Unless there were other individuals in Northern California with the same name, Kuhl sounds like he must have been a litigious sort, or a frequent target of others' litigation; there are court cases involving disputes with neighbors, and a newspaper reference that makes it sound as though Orville was no stranger to courthouse proceedings.

The Social Security death records know an Orville Kuhl who was born in 1894 and died in Contra Costa County, CA, in 1972. Another Orville Kuhl is younger and has roots in Michigan. I don't know if that could be the son. I suspect not.
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