Please forgive my ignorance but I have a couple basic questions about engraved nickel plated revolvers

At the factory were the revolvers engraved and then plated?

If the engraving was third party (i.e. New York) were the guns shipped plated and then engraved? Or were they shipped sans plating (in the white)?

If they were shipped plated was the plating removed, the gun engraved, and the gun replated?

All of the above are correct.

I have antiques that were sent to the Major Distributor soft or in the white and subsequently engraved.

I also have antiques lettered that were shipped to a Major Distributor Blued with wood grips and are now cased with the Distributor label on the lid and the gun is nickel plated/engraved with pearl grips.

Anything goes with period engraving. Generally speaking the engraving is done prior to the final finishing. It has to be or the exposed metal will rust without a finish applied.

The variables are literally endless. You could also have an antique that was engraved many years later and not refinished after the engraving. Such as a brass framed example.

The Major Distributor was assigned to unload SURPLUS STOCK. This basically means they would do whatever they needed to do to sell the product. The sky is the limit.

Murph

"It has to be or the exposed metal will rust without a finish applied."

Ya think??!!

I thought so too!

That brings us to my one and only King Super Target Triple Lock. The gun is as new. I, being me, am going to see what this rib business is all about---and off comes the rib! There's a great wide chasm milled in the top strap, and the (original) front sight is milled down to a nub. ALL these milled surfaces are in the white----and PRISTINE---as though they were milled yesterday!!

What's up with THAT?!!

My first thought was wax. I didn't have any more thoughts.

Ralph Tremaine

Do they need to remove the plating first to engrave them?

Not always.
It’s all about the money.
A customer could bring in a gun and tell the Distributor they wanted a basic engraving applied as found on their bargain engraving.
Example;
Colt House pistols were sold as Surplus into the Mid-1880’s and were offered with or without Engraving. The frames are brass and are often found without plating. It all depends upon what the customer wanted or was willing to pay for.

The Distributor offered cheap plating also. That’s when you find all the parts nickel plated. All they did was take the grips off perform a basic acid cleaning and dip the entire gun into the Green nickel bath.

All about the money.

There are many examples out there where engraving was applied many years after a gun was manufactured and plated in nickel.
Those examples actually look the best after 130 years of patina the engraving really stands out. More often a dark black patina that brings premium prices if it’s not heavily worn.

Murph

Engraving as a rule is done to the steel surfaces that are final finish Polished, but still 'In the White'.

When engraving is completed, a very careful final polish is usually given to clean up any small scratches accumulated through the engraving process. These from just handling the pieces and to remove any undesirable heavy burrs from the engravers cutting.
The latter should not be a regular issue if the engraver is sharpening his/her gravers correctly but the ocassional sharp burr will occur. Especially at the end of a cut.
You pick those up quickly by lightly swiping your fingers across the surface. Then pick those off level with a Flat graver as needed.

Any scratches and slight roughness in the cutting is removed with a careful polish with 1000grit or higher paper. Just a very light use, back and forth only a couple times will do it for you.
Anything further will start to dull the sharp image cuts and round them.

Off to be blued or plated.

Some pieces are left 'In the White' after engraving but that is not a thing that FActorys did. More of a custom engravers choice.
With care and maint, the surfaces do not suffer any more than a blued finish which needs all the same wipe down and constant oil/grease to remove fingerprints and such to keep it from rusting.

Engraving can be cut through Plating, but again it's not a common practice.
The last time it seems to have been a thing=to=do was in the 1970's.
Custom engravers were cutting through the Nickel plating on primarily S&W revolvers and leaving the bare steel cuts 'In the White'.
The slight difference in color was a very nice contrast.

A problem soon arose though. The nickel plating at the edges of the engraving cuts would start to loosen, flake and pull free.
This on guns that had been engraved in this manner that were not NIB when chosen for the engraving.

The NIB (unfired xcept for factory proof) did not have the plating delaminate at the cuts.
Used, fired specimens did and to different degrees.
So the fad of engrving thru the factory nickel plate kind of faded away.
I'm sure it's still done on occasion though.

Engraving thru the blue is also done. You see it mostly on inscriptions and names/dates added to guns. If the area is kept oiled, it won't suffer any more from rust than the surrounding blued surfaces.
I don't know if the Factory did 'Thru the Blue' engraving on small jobs like Initials, Monograms, dates, etc for customers sending a gun back in for the work.

I like to post pictures and I like to see others post them too
Here's a pic of a Colt House Pistol as mentioned by Murph and a pic of a Smith engraved thru the finish

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Part of in depth research for my book I documented the .41rf Colt House Pistol in detail. This information is backed by many hours of research that includes factory records and distributor research.

The first two photos are from my collection. Factory engraved with no finish applied. No finish “from the factory”. Notice the deep patina inside the engraving. This is my personal favorite antique engraving. It’s shows extremely well.

The next photo is the exact same model gun, same era, same factory engraving, only factory plated. Looks very nice but you can clearly see the difference in presentation.

The last two photos are of a late 5 shot house pistol Distributor engraved in the early 1880’s also having no finish on the frame but nickeled or blued on the cylinder and barrel or even a mixture of both.

Remember also that two tone finish was also available during that period.

This simply proves there were many options for the customer that circumvented engraver procedures. Making the sale was the priority and always was.

iby’s presentation examples clearly show no bluing after the engraving. The customer was given the option to finish or not.


Murph

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I also favor the engraving on your Cloverleaf

The 1870's Colt House and Open Top 22's were finished in a vast
variety of finish combo's at the factory.
This is my other one

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