To those of you who study engraved firearms, the Young family needs no introduction. To those you who do not fancy such fancy revolvers, the Youngs were a royal family in the annals of gun engraving history. Gustave Young, and his sons Oscar and Eugene, all engraved for Smith and Wesson. A third son, Alfred also did engraving work for S&W, but he did not engrave firearms. His work was limited to tools and dies and other such duties where an engraver was needed on the manufacturing side for S&W. The Youngs also engraved many Colt revolvers in addition to the plethora of Smith and Wesson's that the family did. The Youngs were affiliated with Colt prior to being with Smith and Wesson.
The Young family was from Germany, as were many other prominent American gun engravers of the time period. Gustave Young was born in Germany in 1827, where he learned the art of engraving. Young immigrated to the US in 1846 with fellow engraver John Marr. Based upon Marr's recommendation, in 1852 Young moved to Hartford and became an engraving subcontractor for Colt. John Marr would become one of Colt's famous engravers of the period. In 1854, Gustave's eldest son, Oscar, was born. Per Houze, some time in 1855, Gustave became Colt's primary engraving subcontractor. In 1862, his youngest son Eugene was born. Gustave left Colt to run his own engraving shop full time around 1865, after a great fire occurred at Colt's factory. Gustave was hired by S&W in 1869 and worked for Smith and Wesson until the early 1890s. Gustave Young passed away in 1895 of cancer. Oscar worked for S&W for approx. 22 years and would pass away in 1912. Oscar's younger brother Eugene worked as an engraver for the Elgin Watch Company before working for S&W. Eugene started to engrave for S&W some time after Oscar had started, and worked for S&W around the turn of the century, and after Oscars death. Eugene specialized in die cutting and was an expert at making small stamping dies. Eugene Young passed away in 1924.
Here is a family photo of the entire Young family, ca 1890
Here is a photo of Oscar Young, ca 1885
This passage was interesting on Eugene Young, featuring one of his business cards. This is from the Houze book on Colt engravers. Although his business was established in 1883, I suspect these cards were printed much later.
The name Gustave Young of course speaks for itself both in the gun collecting community and in the engraving community. Gustave's impression on gun engraving was immeasurable. Aside from engraving and inlaying some of the most beautiful, historically significant, and valuable revolvers in the world, Gustave apprenticed many other engravers, and some went on to be famous in their own right. On top of apprenticing his sons Oscar and Eugene, Gustave had another apprentice, Conrad F. Ulrich, Jr. Conrad and his brothers, John and Herman, later became famous Winchester engravers after they apprenticed under Gustave Young.
Gustave Young's engraved pieces were prominently featured in both the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876 and in Smith and Wesson's display at the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair "Columbian" exposition, among many other important expositions which featured Smith and Wesson firearms. In addition, it was Gustave that originally developed the S&W monogram logo that we all know and love today!
A while back, I posted on the forum my first Oscar Young engraved revolver, a 1903 1st change target with an oak factory S&W display case. I knew after I researched the Youngs and their guns, I wanted to own more revolvers that they engraved.
Here is that first Oscar Young engraved revolver I acquired, a cased 1903 1st change target.
NOTE: regarding S&W engraving, in this era the coverage amount is referred to as a "style" whereas latter revolvers are given a letter to denote coverage, with A being the most, and C being the least, when talking Smith and Wessons. "Style" when talking pre war S&Ws, does not refer to an engraving motif on these guns. With "styles" a low number is a low amount of coverage, with the higher the number, the higher the amount of coverage.
One day, over a year ago, while browsing online, I spotted an engraved model 1903 revolver. In my minds eye, the engraving bared a sharp resemblance to the engraving on my 1903 1st change target. Despite not being in the best shape, and not being lettered, I placed a bid on the gun, and I luckily won the auction. The gun was auctioned with a dealer case from the period, which I thought was interesting. More interesting than that was the gold plate finish. Factory gold plate is of course very hard to find. At the time, I wasn't worried that the gun could have been aftermarket plated in gold, because I felt I got a great deal anyways. I of course appreciate the factory pearl grips as well.
Here are some photos the seller provided of the gun and case...
After I mailed the payment, the seller contacted me to say he had lost the dealer presentation case. Of course, I was very displeased. I asked him how it could be lost if he photographed it in auction with the revolver IE why would the gun and case not be kept together after photos were taken? He didn't have an answer, and talked in circles, saying he owned a ton of stuff, and must have gotten lost in storage, but he did offer a clue as to what may have happened "for what you paid for the gun, the case was free" and I told him "perhaps, but the case has value, and I did not get what I paid for". We went back and forth, and finally he gave me $100 back to make up for the lost case. Him not wanting to give me any type of refund due to the winning bid being low solely was a clue as to his possible wrongdoing. I suspected that he took the case back for another gun he had. Although I did not completely trust him, I asked him if he had any other interesting S&Ws he would be selling. He said he had a RM, a cased 44 magnum, a mint 1950 boxed 44 target, and 2 other engraved S&Ws. One was an aftermarket engraved M&P but the other was a S&W 38 New Departure, which interestingly appeared to be another example of Oscar Young's work! I was on a roll I thought, that is until he told me what he wanted for these guns, and I told him thanks but no thanks. The engraved 38 New Departure was pictured by itself, with no case or anything, in the photos he sent. As for the lost the dealer case that was with the 1903 in the auction, I told him that if he ever found the case, I would give him $150 for it and pay for the shipping to give him incentive to find it. I hoped he would call me...
Here she is: an engraved 1903 no change with pearl grips and gold finish. The gold has flaked some from the left side, but I love how unique it is.
I was pretty happy when the gun lettered but the finish was left up to speculation. Roy didn't say it in the letter, but I sent him a photo of each side of the gun with the letter request.
Now the debate can begin
One would think that if the gun shipped blue, there would be "B" somewhere on the grip frame, but there is not.
There is not "B" prefix to the left side of serial on the barrel flat either.
The edges look sharp overall and the patent dates are easy to read as well. Could the gun have shipped nickel originally? If it did, that was not stated in the letter.
Here is a photo he provided of his additional S&Ws for sale. Notice that the 38 New Departure is loose. I will explain the significance of that later in this thread.
As luck would have it, yet another Oscar Young S&W would turn up not long after I acquired this gold plated 1903. This new find was much like the first one I had bought: an engraved 1903 1st change target with pearls! This one however was a 3.25 in revolver with factory nickel finish, making it a rare variation, aside from the engraving.
The owner of this gun had other collecting interests, so he offered this revolver to me, and we worked out a deal. He knew from my other thread regarding my first Oscar Young engraved revolver that I liked these guns more than he did and I was very pleased to acquire it.
Here are some photos of this little gem!
For factory nickel target guns in this era, a hint to finish originality is the presence of a blued front sight and a blued rear sight assembly. This was done to decrease the glare from light when shooting the gun.
With Smith and Wesson, the old saying "never say never..." often applies. In this case, many of us base a gun's finish originality (blue vs nickel) on the presence of "B" stampings on the frame and/or the barrel flat, although digging deeper is always wise. However, in certain circumstances, a blued gun could be pulled from inventory to fill a custom order. This particular gun is one of those guns. I believe the gun was originally made as a 3.25 in blue 1903 target, and was pulled to fill this custom order. IMO many people would have wrote off this gun prior to getting the letter, but like I said "never say never..." esp. with Smith and Wessons
"B" prefix is found on the barrel flat.
"B" is found on right side of the frame.
Despite those "B" stampings, this gun did letter exactly as is. I bought this particular gun already lettered. Not surprisingly, it was a single gun shipment to an individual.
When I got the gold plated 1903 from the guy who "misplaced" the case for it, I ended up telling a friend of mine about the other S&Ws he was selling because even though the seller seemed shady, his guns did seem righteous. My friend ended up buying a S&W revolver from him, although I forget what it was specifically. Luckily he treated my friend right, and he was happy. The seller then told my friend he had other S&Ws he wished to sell, which were nearly the same group as what he had offered to me months before. My friend let me know about an engraved top break the guy had, likely because my friend forgot I already knew about that gun.
Here is the photo my friend sent to me, from the seller.
The engraved 38 New Departure revolver was now in the red velvet lined case! In the photo, it appears to be the same gun he offered me, the same case that I should own, and it appears to be the same countertop as well...his price was still high so I decided to move on. Some things are not worth fighting over...although I was still displeased at what happened.
I was incensed upon first seeing the photo, although admittedly, there were 3 main possibilities: 1) he stole the case back because he was dismayed at what the gold plated 1903 brought at auction (my theory) 2) he found the case after selling the 1903 to me, but decided to keep it since he had given me a partial refund, or 3) he had two of the exact same cases and kept one with each engraved revolver (highly unlikely). I decided not to confront the guy, because I expected him to lie to me if confronted. Sometimes, when it comes to people like that, over small things that cannot be proven, its just not worth the time.
Months passed but I kept tabs on his listings, just in case he would offer anything else I would like esp. the 38 New Departure. He ended up auctioning most of the guns he offered me, but not the New Departure, the one I was most interested in acquiring. Then finally one day, as luck would have it, the engraved New Departure appeared as a no reserve auction! In the photos of the New Departure was what looked to be the same case that I already tried to buy from this seller once before. He had not lettered the New Departure, but since I now had 3 other Oscar Young guns already, I had to go with my instincts on the origin of the engraving. I ended up winning the 38 New Departure revolver, and this time I got the case!
Needless to say, I was very happy about getting this one: its condition, its originality and the fact that I finally got the case
The case at last...
The case fits either gun, despite the barrel difference of 0.25 in
This gun lettered just right and I was a happy camper!
I did end up getting one more Oscar Young engraved revolver after these first 4. This small 32 Double Action revolver was posted online for a bargain price. It was poorly refinished at least once, but I of course had to buy it anyways. It was not lettered, but the engraving looked like Oscar to me so I bought it.
The letter was interesting that a consecutive pair of these was shipped engraved. Since the gun was refinished at least once before, I decided to make a project out of it. I am planning to get the parts of the revolver plated and others nitrite blued so that it resembles miniature clone of an exhibition 44 Double Action revolver from the famous Anthony Urbanowski collection.
Here is that 44 exhibition revolver. It does appear to be a New York style engraving (Nimschke style) and not of the Youngs' style.
Here is a RIA preview video of the Urbanowski collection which shows this beautiful exhibition 44 double action revolver.
At 6:55...
I thought I should post a few guns that the family did that I don't own, which are still interesting. Although they did many Smith and Wessons pre 1900, I tried to find hand ejectors that the Youngs did.
The below engraved gold plated model 1899 was displayed at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY in 1901. The engraving pattern features a very unique flower motif, and has been attributed to Oscar Young.
This particular 1891 was attributed to Eugene and is featured in R.L. Wilson's (RIP) book
Steel Canvas, on p.196
Here is a S&W 1905 4th change 38 spl target which was factory engraved. This gun shipped in 1917, and so I believe this was the work of Eugene since Oscar died in 1912. Eugene didn't pass away until 1924. On the other hand, I can't say this engraving resembles anything I have seen attributed to Eugene. Eugene could have simply used Oscar's engraving pattern for this particular revolver, which is probably the most likely explanation.
This attractive 32-20 target model does not mention which Young did the gun in the letter, and I am a little divided on this one myself but I lean towards Oscar. Its a pretty gun regardless, so I wanted to share...
As for good ol' Gustave, he unfortunately died before S&W had a hand ejector on the assembly line. He did many very famous revolvers, Colt's and S&Ws, and so I thought I would show what is IMO the best showing of his craftsmanship.
This New Model 3 took him over a year to engrave and inlay! It was completed in 1892/93 for a cost of $1500 way back then! Many inflation calculators only go back to 1913, but the WestEgg calculator goes back to 1800 and according to it, $1500 in 1892 is roughly equal to $40,639.37. This revolver has been featured in countless books, and was said by Roy Jinks to be the finest known piece of engraving to come out of the United States - ever! This revolver was made for S&W's display at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. This revolver was mounted on a pedestal which held the gun up by the trigger guard so that both sides of this masterpiece could be viewed. It was sold from the S&W private collection / museum to an anonymous buyer sometime in 2015 or 2016.
The story of the sale and transfer of this magnificent piece was chronicled in our SWCA Journal, Spring 2016, Vol. 50, No. 1.
These two photos of this amazing New Model 3 are taken from Artistry in Arms.
These additional photos are in the SWCA journal article. In this top photo, we see that Gustave signed this revolver, which is something he rarely did.
There many different types of revolvers one can collect, considering Smith and Wesson's long company history coupled with the vast production numbers since Smith and Wesson began. As for me, I like many different varieties and vintages of Smith and Wesson, but pre WWII custom order revolvers are growing on me...
The Engraved Smith and Wessons of the Young family
Linear Mode
