Alvin A White - engraver

[Souffaloufagous]

I spent the decade of the 1970's as a "picker" of antique guns at a time when most of the dealers in antique guns used Al for high end repairs and restoration. I had him repair the frame of a Wolf engraved 1851 Colt navy that had a nasty rust spot on the cylinder and recoil shield on the left side. The repair was perfect and could not be told from the patina on the original surfaces. He was superb at re-creating the classic engraving styles of the flint, percussion and cartridge eras before WW2. A very gifted man. IrishFritz

omg it's funny you say this - he LOVED making art repros from different time periods. He liked to think of it as a prank because he'd try to convince people he had the genuine article!

 

[Doc44]

Sterling silver buckle engraved by Alvin White and awarded to the Best Engraved Gun at the Ninth Antique Arms Show in Hartford, CT in 1975. The award was presented to S&W for its display of a New Model Number 3 engraved and inlaid with gold by Gustave Young. This revolver is arguably the finest engraved revolver ever completed in the United States.

Bill

 

[Pauldg]

Here's mine…

Here are a set of what I believe are a set of Mr. White's carved stocks.

They are on a pre-27 that dates to 1953.

Paul G

 

[Doc44]

Paul G...Very nice stocks by AAW.

Bill

 

[dobegrant]

welcome from Arizona, hope you are successful in your quest, your grandfathers work was legendary.

 

[boykinlp]

Here are a set of what I believe are a set of Mr. White's carved stocks.

They are on a pre-27 that dates to 1953.

Paul G

Paul, those are superb! I am curious, did you get them when you acquired the revolver or separately?

I have another question for you Alvin White carved stock owners. Any idea how many of these he actually did? I mean did he offer carved stocks for sale as a "regular" item?
Larry

 

[Souffaloufagous]

I have a very humble, but very happy, share! A piece came up at local auction... this percussion rifle was one of the first, if not the first, gun my grandpa ever made when he was a teenager. He had gifted it to a friend once upon a time, and it came up at auction a few weeks ago. I was able to bring it back into the family, and am constantly marveling at how it hasn't been in my family's hands for 30-40 years, and how he once held this up to his face... I had heard my mom and aunt talk about this gun, I'm thrilled to bring it back into the family.

 

[Truckman]

Wow!...What an outstanding find to welcome back into the family...I still hold out for finding a rifle built by one of the Bean family of gunmakers in Tennessee...I'm a direct descendant of William Bean who first walked into what became Tennessee with Daniel Boone, then stayed to found a gunmaking dynasty...Your rifle is a great find...Congratulations!......Ben

 

[725734]

AAW

I have a pre 29 with grips that I have been told were carved by White.