Gentlemen,

Can anyone tell me how the factories put those
(must be cheap?) gold birds on the receivers of O/U shotguns?

Is it possible to use the factory engraving
(roll on?) which has birds in an oval and inlay
a fairly exact replica so that the existing color case hardening won't be affected?

Or does any such work always necessitate refinishing?

Is anyone doing this type of work other than the well known engravers who do much finer work than I am discussing?

I've noticed that the inlaid birds on the DeHaan Turkish O/U guns ae much more 3 dimensional than most. Are these actually some type of casting that has been silver brazed (soldered?) on? I believe artist Sid Bell used to do such work although in pewter and silver?

I know I've asked a lot, and that such work would probably be considered an insult to a real engraver. But then again, all I'm trying to figure out is if it is possible to get some rather inexpensive work like is done on factory guns for a field hunting shotgun.

Thanks in advance for any responses and no insults to real professional engravers(artists) are intended!

Regards,
Don

On the "new" Winchester M-12, the "inlays" were actually very thin plating...can't be refinished without losing the gold

Besides the cheap "fake" plating as described by Duane, there's still real inlays where gold is tapped/pressed into a carved out and dovetailed imprint before being sculptured and engraved. Here's an example from my presentation FN-Browning B25 :

Can such inlays be installed over existing roll
engraved bird figures without disturbing the existing color case hardened finish?

Let's keep in mind I'm old and don't really have the time to wait years for the work to get done!

In theory, it could. It will require a reconsideration of the existing engraving though and maybe some new engraving to integrate the inlays in the overall picture. Cost could be substantial. If I were you, I would seek preliminary advise from some pro engravers before committing the works.

Thank You, Andre.