pjaln,

Looking the enlarged pictures of your rifle at Cabelas website, I believe that the engraving is done by Louis Vrancken.

Roland

roland,could you tell me why you think it was him i know the gun was built right about 1950-51 do you know if he was active then and who he may have been doing work for ,thanks paul

Hi Paul,

Mr. Vrancken was the chief and master engraver for Fabrique National in Belgium and was head of the Belgium engraving school. I have seen work done by him in a gun shop that I visited in Belgium in the 1970's Lebeau-Courally in Liege. The game scenes depicting battling bull elk on the barrel breech were almost identical.

Hope this helps and enjoy your masterpiece,

Roland

roland ,i just found out yesterday that the rifle was built by tom shelhamer there is a 3 page article in the 1953 gun digest .the gun was built for peyton autry the engravers name is not mentioned try to find the article ,was this engraver you mentioned in the states ,when i discussed this gun with a well known collector before i knew who made it we both thought it was belgium too. thanks paul

Paul,

I don’t think that your rifle was engraved by Winston Churchill or Joseph Fugger even do the all worked for Griffin & Howe at some time, included Tom Shelhamer.

If your rifle was engraved in the 1980’s and compare the similarity of Vrancken’s style, my thoughts would go to Kurt Horvath he studied at L’Ecole D’Armurerie in Liege, Belgium, Louis Vrancken’s influence as well his style is very strong and present in L’Ecole D’Armurerie.

One of the other reasons that I go back to Vrancken himself is that he not always signed or autographed his work. I believe most American engravers do.

The particular rifle I was referring to in my earlier post which was engraved by Vrancken, and even do it’s a long time ago, I might find some pictures back from the rifle, if so, I will post them.

For example, Griffin & Howe till today comprises a lot of ties with Belgium’s top custom rifle maker’s, master engravers and businesses in the custom gun trade, like M. Thys, Dumoulin and many more.
Your rifle becomes more and more interesting.

Success,

Roland

A couple years ago at the Vegas Intnl. Sporting Arms Show I talked with the Purdey reps for awhile. For what it's worth, they told me their standard rosette and scroll engraving patterns are done in England but their most expensive commissioned "art" rifles & shotguns are engraved in Italy and Belgium. I'd say the top American engravers are equally as good too.

the gun was built in 1951 for sure stocked by shelhamer ,barrel by pfiefer ,if you read the article in the 53 gun digest peyton autry says that he wont divuge his name "the engraver" so he doesnt become diluged with work he will not be able to complete it becomes a real mystery ...paul