Hi everyone,
Been a while since I posted on my own thread so here is the latest and greatest.
I requested a letter from S&W which I got back the other day and they said
This was one of 4 guns donated to Jessie Harpe in Tampa, FL by S&W on 20 January 1958 to be awarded at the 1958 Mid-Winter National Championships.
I then contacted FEGA and this is the opinion I received from them:
Mr. Carter,
I read the posts on the S&W forum and was amused at some of the speculation regarding your gun's engraver. On the other hand, some comments were accurate.
First off, the gun was NOT engraved by Alvin White or his associate Andrew Bourbon. Neither was it engraved by Ogawa, Sugawa or any other Japanese engraver.
Your gun was clearly engraved by a school trained, master German gun engraver. As one poster commented, it did not go through the Kurt Jaeger shop in Mainz, Germany because all of Kurt's engraved guns were so marked. Many people incorrectly believe that Kurt Jaeger was a gun engraver. He was a gunsmith who sent out engraving, usually to Claus Willig or Claus' father. Some of Kurt's work also went to Erich Boessler.
At the time your gun was engraved it was common for guns to be sent to Germany for engraving, often through the Paul Jaeger gun shop in PA. Usually these guns were not marked by Paul Jaeger or by the actual engraver.
Without a signature, I can not be positive who engraved your gun because school trained and apprenticed German gun engravers were taught in such a strict fashion that their scrollwork and figures look quite alike, yet is distinguishable from the work of other nationalities. My educated guess is that the gun was most likely engraved by Claus Willig in Germany. When signing work, Willig sometimes used cw and other times, when the client asked for a signature, he used C. Willig. Boessler usually marked a tiny EB within a game scene or the scrollwork, but Boessler's German scroll varied slightly from what I see on your gun.
In any case, your S&W is beautifully engraved and inlaid at the master level.
I trust that the above information is helpful to your research.
Regards,
Next I emailed Mr. Willig and received a response from him this morning:
Hi Mr. Carter.
I am afraid you could be disappointed to learn: THIS REVOLVER IS NOT ENGRAVED BY MY FATHER EMIL WILLIG or by myself. At that time ( the late 1950s) he engraved for Kurt Jäger in Mainz Germany. Kurt Jäger, gunsmith and dealer, was the brother of Paul Jaeger, Jenkintown PA, a well known gunsmith in the USA. Paul ordered engravings in Germany with Kurts help. But I can not remember to have seen your revolver in our shop. The way it is engraved is not the kind of my father. The goldlines are not typical and I was too joung to do this job. Mr. Schildbach is probably the engraver, but I am not sure.
Sincerely Claus Willig
So now I am trying to figure out what next.
Any thoughts?
Been a while since I posted on my own thread so here is the latest and greatest.
I requested a letter from S&W which I got back the other day and they said
This was one of 4 guns donated to Jessie Harpe in Tampa, FL by S&W on 20 January 1958 to be awarded at the 1958 Mid-Winter National Championships.
I then contacted FEGA and this is the opinion I received from them:
Mr. Carter,
I read the posts on the S&W forum and was amused at some of the speculation regarding your gun's engraver. On the other hand, some comments were accurate.
First off, the gun was NOT engraved by Alvin White or his associate Andrew Bourbon. Neither was it engraved by Ogawa, Sugawa or any other Japanese engraver.
Your gun was clearly engraved by a school trained, master German gun engraver. As one poster commented, it did not go through the Kurt Jaeger shop in Mainz, Germany because all of Kurt's engraved guns were so marked. Many people incorrectly believe that Kurt Jaeger was a gun engraver. He was a gunsmith who sent out engraving, usually to Claus Willig or Claus' father. Some of Kurt's work also went to Erich Boessler.
At the time your gun was engraved it was common for guns to be sent to Germany for engraving, often through the Paul Jaeger gun shop in PA. Usually these guns were not marked by Paul Jaeger or by the actual engraver.
Without a signature, I can not be positive who engraved your gun because school trained and apprenticed German gun engravers were taught in such a strict fashion that their scrollwork and figures look quite alike, yet is distinguishable from the work of other nationalities. My educated guess is that the gun was most likely engraved by Claus Willig in Germany. When signing work, Willig sometimes used cw and other times, when the client asked for a signature, he used C. Willig. Boessler usually marked a tiny EB within a game scene or the scrollwork, but Boessler's German scroll varied slightly from what I see on your gun.
In any case, your S&W is beautifully engraved and inlaid at the master level.
I trust that the above information is helpful to your research.
Regards,
Next I emailed Mr. Willig and received a response from him this morning:
Hi Mr. Carter.
I am afraid you could be disappointed to learn: THIS REVOLVER IS NOT ENGRAVED BY MY FATHER EMIL WILLIG or by myself. At that time ( the late 1950s) he engraved for Kurt Jäger in Mainz Germany. Kurt Jäger, gunsmith and dealer, was the brother of Paul Jaeger, Jenkintown PA, a well known gunsmith in the USA. Paul ordered engravings in Germany with Kurts help. But I can not remember to have seen your revolver in our shop. The way it is engraved is not the kind of my father. The goldlines are not typical and I was too joung to do this job. Mr. Schildbach is probably the engraver, but I am not sure.
Sincerely Claus Willig
So now I am trying to figure out what next.
Any thoughts?
