Through his early enterprise as the “celebrated Dr. Coult of New York, London and Calcutta,” marketing and presentation came easily to Samuel Colt.

An avid self-promoter, Colt’s early guns had roll-stamped scenes on the cylinders to commemorate an important event of early patrons, like a skirmish between Texas Rangers and Comanche or a Naval battle. Over time, the gun engraving became elaborate presentation pieces and the company offered engraving to anyone wanting – and willing to pay – for an embellished revolver.

Colt’s stable of engravers was an impressive roster. Gustave Young produced a number of masterpieces for Colt, and Cuno Helfricht applied his mastery to the company’s revolvers for half a century. Other engravers who worked independently like L.D. Nimschke and Rudolph Kornbrath also put gravers to gun metal for the company.

Take a look at some of these masterworks by Colt engravers that will be available in Rock Island Auction Company’s Aug. 15-17 Premier Auction in Bedford, Texas.

Early Colt Gun Engraving

Before Gustave Young, Waterman Lily Ormsby created cylinder scenes for early Colt revolvers that were used on the Walker, Dragoon, Model 1849 Pocket, Model 1851 Navy and 1855 Sidehammer. One of his first was of a centaur shooting two horsemen with a revolver. The scenes were changed slightly depending on the size of the revolver. The No. 5 Holster Model Paterson cylinder showed stagecoach passengers armed with revolvers fending off bandits.

Ormsby engraved plates for magazine illustrations and bank notes as well as inventing contraptions often related to stopping counterfeiting. His “grammagraph” that copied medals and medallions onto bank notes was used for “roll die” engraving onto the Colt cylinders.

Gun Engraving and Gustave Young

Gustave Young was born in 1827 Germany where his last name was spelled “Jung.” Starting at the age of 8 he served a six-year apprenticeship as an engraver before starting his gun engraving career at the age of 14, serving at one time for the imperial engraver in Berlin. Young’s style applied to Colt’s revolvers was evident in his animal heads, punch-dot backgrounds and Germanic scrollwork.

The engraver arrived in New York City in 1846 before moving to Hartford, Conn., to work for Colt where he engraved into the late-1860s. One of his first important tasks for Colt was to engrave six gold inlaid pistols that Samuel Colt would carry overseas on an 1854 trip to Europe – pairs of the Third Model Dragoon, Model 1851 Navy and Model 1849 Pocket. One of each gun was presented to Russian Czar Nicholas I.

Young, who later mentored Conrad Ulrich at Colt, produced Model 1860 Army presentation pieces President Abraham Lincoln gave to the kings of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. After the Colt factory fire in February 1864, he advertised his services in one of the Hartford papers of the day: “The Advertiser having been deprived of employment by the late destructive fire at Colt’s Armory, respectfully offers his services to the public as an Engraver on Gold and Silver plate, rings, and every kind of ornamental jewelry, Steel and all other metals. He has been engaged in Colonel Colt’s Establishment for the past twelve years in the highest walks of the art; and abundant proofs of his Skill are extant in this country, and in Europe, in the splendid presents that have been made to Crowned Heads, and illustrious personages in different countries. Specimens of his work have been exhibited at the different World’s Fairs and elicited the highest praise. In soliciting public patronage, the subscriber is confident, that he cannot be outdone, if equaled in his line of art; and he is willing to hazard his professional reputation on any work with which he may be entrusted. He can be found at his Office, No.__ Main Street, up stairs.” No street number was given.

In 1869, he moved his family to Springfield, Mass., where he worked primarily for Smith & Wesson while also taking on work for other Sharps Rifle, Charles Parker, Connecticut Arms and Winchester while also working for Colt. One of his last pieces of gun engraving, for Chicago’s Columbian Exhibition of 1893, was a gold inlaid Smith & Wesson New Model No. 3 revolver, the only work he is known to have signed. Young died in 1895.

Gun Engraving and Cuno Helfricht’s Epic Career

Young’s punch dot backgrounds gave way to vine scroll as the Civil War began, saving about a quarter of the time required for engraving before becoming heavy leaf scrolls about 1870 as Cuno Helfricht took over Colt’s engraving shop. Like Young, Helfricht was born in Germany and moved to the United States as a child. He apprenticed at a young age under his father who also worked for Colt. He was sent to Germany to study engraving as Young was leaving the company. Returning to the United States, Helfricht went to work for Colt in 1871 and remained there until 1921.

Following Samuel Colt’s death, the company made fewer presentations though it continued to display guns at events like the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876 and the Sportsman shows at Madison Square Garden in 1895-96.  Until the turn of the century, engraved firearms had such demand that Colt kept a stock of engraved guns. By the end of the century, demand for engraved guns was fading and about 1910 engraving was only done by special order and Helfricht reduced the number of engravers on the staff.

Helfricht started with Colt shortly before the adoption of the Single Action Army in 1873. An estimated 3,000 SAAs are estimated to have been engraved between the gun’s adoption and the end of production in 1940. Of those, 2,550 were engraved under Helfricht. After the turn of the century, Helfricht is believed to have done most of the company engraving with one or two assistants.

Most of the work Helficht and his staff did from 1885-1889 was engraving Model 1878 and 1883 shotguns as well as various pistols. Helfricht’s records likely didn’t include derringers or pocket models because the work could be done quickly.

Factory engraved guns typically weren’t signed by the engravers until the 20^th century. The notion of signing an engraved gun didn’t become popular until after World War 2 with the rise of gun collecting and wanting to identify the work. However, engravers proud of a master work would occasionally sign their artistry like Ulrich and Nimschke, and early on, Ormby’s name appeared on cylinders with the roll engraved scenes on them.

Gun Engraving for Colt by Nimschke, Kornbrath

While Helfricht was overseeing the Colt engraving shop, master engravers like L.D. Nimschke and Rudolph Kornbrath also received commissions to adorn Colt revolvers. Both men had emigrated from Germany – Nimschke arrived about 1850, while Kornbrath came in 1910.

Nimschke is estimated to have engraved about 5,000 guns in his career, including several hundred Colt revolvers by R.L. Wilson’s estimation. One such Colt was the masterpiece and collection-defining Single Action Army known as Black Beauty that Rock Island Auction sold in May for $1.645 million.

Working out of New York City, Nimschke’s work was in high demand. Guns he engraved usually arrived in the white – without finish, for engraving and were then blued, casehardened or plated after he did his work. Among his customers were gunsmiths, shooting clubs and people outside the firearms industry.

Kornbrath was not as prolific as Nimschke who died in 1904. He was active from his arrival in the United States until 1937 when he suffered a debilitating stroke. A brochure of his work stated, “Gun engravure by Kornbrath is engravure by a Master of the Art, who received his training under Old World Craftsmen, and has been making Fine Engraving since 1900. Sportsmen in practically every state in the Union are proud of their Kornbrath engraved guns.”

Gun Engraving by Wilbur Glahn

Taking over for Gustave Young, Helfricht’s patterns were strongly Germanic but evolving so a more American-style scrolling was added as well as border designs and rare panel scenes for the guns produced by Colt from 1871 to 1921. Under Wilbur Glahn, there was a transition to more scrolling and symmetrical lines but still showed Helfricht’s influence. During his tenure he performed the bulk of the factory engraving.

Colt offered three levels of factory engraving: “A” was the minimum level of engraving, followed by “B” which provided more coverage and “C” is “the most ornamental” according to the company’s 1932 catalog. Engraving styles changed with shop leadership. Glahn’s works first appeared in the 1929 Colt catalog, 10 years after he started with the company. The catalog offered examples of the different engraving levels but with the caveat that they may not appear exactly as shown.

“The designs marked 1, 2 and 3 are not followed exactly but vary with different models and are shown to indicate something of the style and amount of engraving that may be had ranging in price from $10.00 and upwards.

Like many of the Colt engravers whose families emigrated from Germany, Wilbur Glahn came from a long line of gun engravers. He was hired by Colt in 1919. He did the bulk of Colt’s engraving until his death in 1951, but by 1933 he moved into industrial engraving and gun work took a back seat.

Glahn’s death was the end of the family dynasties of gun engravers but left a Germanic influence as well as a legacy of high quality, style and design on the Colt revolvers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Engraved Guns for Sale

German immigrants that brought their vision and skill to the United States were more than engravers or craftsmen, but true artists who took the utilitarian tool of the West and made them into fine art, choosing metal over canvas or marble. These remarkable Colt revolvers are immensely beautiful and highly sought after for the remarkable level of gun engraving and will be available in Rock Island Auction Company’s Aug. 15-17 Premier Auction.