First of all, Delta's .38 Safety pictures tell me that Nimschke was never anywhere near that gun. It's typical after market New York style medium quality engraving. Second, I tend to agree with 2152hq's comments about Larry Wilson & Nimschke. I have studied 19th century gun engraver's work on firearms for many years and tried it a few times myself. Good engraving is like handwriting and a skilled observer can usually recognize technique and style in engraving as found on guns. Quite often, a gun will exhibit the work of several engravers, especially in shops like the Nimschke's and the Youngs, for example, as they employed several assistants. Third, If you have a gun with exceptionally great engraving and you get a factory letter that does not mention the gun as being shipped engraved, don't give up. I have had several such guns and by digging in the factory archives & correspondence, was able to prove the guns were shipped in the white to famous engravers by the factory, as per the customers order, engraved and returned to S&W for finishing and shipping to the buyer. One well known example I had in my collection uncovered the fact that 7 special guns were drop shipped to Kornbrath in the white, engraved by him in similar styles and returned to S&W for shipment to Wolf & Klar as special orders by a wealthy Texas businessman & hotel owner. Shipping records merely said the gun was part of a shipment of 50 guns to W&K. No mention of the special order, but more searching in the archives told "the rest of the story!". Ed.
|