they have a certificate of completion they are now masters. The fact of the matter is that whether a butcher, middle skilled, excellent craftsman or Master Engraver is ultimately determined by the customer as they bestow the Master Engraver title on the artist and not by some certificate of achievement that says they are.
Arnold Griebel, Master Gun Engraver (1890-1970)
the very skilled engraver, whose work is accomplished and detailed, from those who achieve the rank of Master Gun Engraver and whose work is in great demand all over the world. What is it that separates the artwork of Jackson Pollock or Alexander Calder from the refrigerator artwork of my five year old grandson? To some there is no difference. To others, it is an absurd comparison. Engraving, like other art form, is subject to personal preferences, with many different styles depicting inlays, high relief, semirelief, type of scroll, leaf and flower, animal rendering, English, Germanic, etc. But the heart of engraving is the soul of the artisan. There is much to be said for the timehonored apprenticeship system as practiced in Europe for there is no question that it has produced a much higher percentage of finished, competent craftsmen who can command the small English scroll and the heavier, more elaborate German variety and high relief game scenes with skill that only comes from years and years of painstaking work. Today we see vocational schools turning out students who think that since
This article is going to look at the art of Master Gun Engraver Arnold Griebel. Not necessarily as a critique of his work but his effect on a shooting family. Born in Suhl, Germany on December 2, 1890, Suhl was the center of fine arms engraving in Germany, if not the world, at that time. Griebel apprenticed there, learning all the phases of engraving, gun making and die making. He was established as a fine engraver long before he immigrated to America in 1928. He settled in Chicago, Illinois and worked as a die engraver. From 1939 until 1951, he worked making engraved stamps and embossing dies but did gun engraving at home. He was mentioned a lot in firearms publications in the 1950's and 60's as one of the finest artists in metal in the United States. His reputation grew and he had a long career creating art in the form of firearm engraving for clients the world over. Arnold Griebel was one of the most famous and prolific engravers of the mid-twentieth century and his work is most desirable and is highly sought after by knowledgeable collectors. He had a special
talent with his superb relief sculpturing of animals and game birds. He was one of the world’s great artists in metal, and was completely committed to his demanding and difficult craft. Arnold Griebel died September 13, 1970 at the age of 79. People collect works of art for many different reasons: some strictly for hoped for financial gain, in effect gambling on the success of up and coming artists, or buying established artists in the hope of continued appreciation of their work. Others collect for the mere ability to “acquire” without truly appreciating the beauty but do so because “others” say so and they have the financial means to do so. They are easy to spot as they will be quick to tell you what they own, but will not be able to tell you why - the difference between a collector and an accumulator. Yet still others are afraid of their art acquisitions and hide them in vaults and never touch them, let along use them or display them. Then there are those that appreciate the beauty, the skill and the efforts imparted to a tool, and use the tool for its intended purpose imparting an additional level of personal pleasure and satisfaction. People who collect classic cars often put them in garages to become garage queens, never to turn a wheel on the open road again. Others have guns they put in their safes never to see the light of day again and never fire a round except for the one test round at the factory at its creation. I’m not ›
Three Arnold Griebel engraved shotguns. (Top) My father’s Winchester Model 12, (middle) my mother’s Remington Model 870 and (bottom) the author’s Winchester Model 12. Note the shortened stock, shorter barrel and thus shorter overall length of the Remington. It fit my mother perfectly and this young shooter until puberty and growth-spurts set in.
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