I'm contemplating buying a gun engraved by this man. I can't find much information about him so far but haven't really hit the books yet. I know he engraved for Ithaca for a while. I'd appreciate any info anyone has, such as where he worked, still alive?, general quality level, etc. BTW the gun is very well done but not what I would call master quality.

There is an engravers gild you could contact

I worked with Ralph in the early 70's at Pedersen Custom Gun in North Haven CT (Div of Mossberg Corp). He came there in 1971. Our 'factory' was on the Mossberg grounds adjacent to the main building.

He was from the Cincinnati area where he had been living and working as an engraver. He moved & bought a home in the Gilford CT area IIRC while with Pedersen, but I seem to remember someone told me he later moved back to Ohio.

He had done alot of engraving for Ithaca, none 'in house' that I recall him saying. There is reference in the Ithaca shotgun book(Snyder) to a short stay in the Ithaca area to work with factory engraver Bill McGraw. I probably just don't recall him talking about it.
He started doing Ithacas around the middle 60's and continued till he went to Pedersen. He was however still working on a special gift piece for someone in high places from Ithaca Gun Co when he was at Pedersen. A WW2 Ithaca 1911A1,,engraved with a 'Great Seal of the United States of America' in relief gold on the left side of the slide. It was still a work in progress when I saw it of course and I never recall seeing it completed or hearing of it again.

FWIW there is a picture in the Ithaca Shotgun book by Snyder that shows engraver Justin Michelina(sp). If that picture is in fact of Michelena,,then the Ralph Alpen I knew back in the early 70's was his twin!
That picture with the bench covered with tools was the way he worked too. Carefully assembled clutter.

Ralph came up as a jewelry trade engraver originally. He was self taught as far as I know. He worked for a jewelry firm in Cincinati,,,,Richards,,Richardsons,,something close to that. He was a free-lanse engraver when it came to firearms until the Ithaca and then later Pedersen factory work.

He did alot of work and was quite fast as far as engravers go. He rarely wore any magnification other than a small clip-on loop on his glasses at times. He did alot more work with 'gravers' (hand pushed tools) than hammer and chisel than most of the other engravers I've known. That came from his jewelry engraving background no doubt. He was very skilled with both types of cutting though. He was a Navy vet and told me he used to idle away time aboard ship by engraving lighters, watches, buckles, etc for other sailors. His engraving tools were the carefully shaped and sharpened blades of a multi-blade pocket knife. He did the work mearly holding the piece in his left hand,,cutting with his right. He had a lighter that he carried with him from those days that he had engraved.

I remember he used to really get mad at the Mossberg factory bean counters when they started to tell him exactly how much time to spend on a pattern, what pattern to cut, etc. They even made him change from 24k gold line inlay to .99fine silver just to save a few dollars. The whole operation was controlled from the Mossberg offices like that. It was doomed from the start most likely.

Ralph set up the Pedersen in house engraving dept. The other experienced engraver there was George B. Spring. A great guy that had been in the business in and around CT and MA for many years as a freelanse engraver mostly but did early on engrave for International Silver Co. He seemed to know everyone.
His son, also George B. Spring ( I don't recall the Sr., Jr, IV, etc of it all) is also an engraver and went on to engrave for Colt Custom Shop. Then there were 3 or 4 apprentices at different times.
Henry Bonham also worked there when I was there. He did work for the Winchester Custom Shop later I believe. Seems like he was a retired NJ State Trooper. We even had a neice of the engraving Kusmit brothers there for short while. Interesting storys for sure!

I lost track of those folks after I left there. The Pedersen project folded a couple of years later and my guess is that's when Ralph moved back to Ohio.
I don't know if he still active in the engraving field or not or even if he is still around.

Sorry if my recollections are rambling and a bit vague. It's hard for me to imagine it's been almost 40 years ago now. It was a fun experience though!


The FEGA would most likely have additional info on Ralph for you.

Thank you very much, wonderful information. I made the deal to buy the gun last night, hopefully it will go through without any hitches. Again, I really appreciate your help.

quote:

Originally posted by 2152hq:
I worked with Ralph in the early 70's at

2152hq

Thank you for that wonderful post. Thanks for taking the time to share that with all of us.

I am continually amazed at how the internet seems to bring us all closer together and how generous people are with their time.

Thanks again!

I'm glad you found the information interesting and hopefully useful.

I did find a couple of other bits of info on Ralph:
He did some engraving for the Franklin Mint after leaving Pedersen,
and he lived in West Grove, PA for a time in what I'm figuring is the late 70's,,early 80's time frame.
Pedersen went out of business in 1975.

and,,,FWIW,,,Geo. B Spring's son I found out is Geo. B Spring III. He did work at Pedersen after I had left there. He was there from sometime in '73 til they closed the doors in '75.
He went on to the Colt Custom Shop. That crew turned out some fantastic work