Chapter 4 – Fiction, Odds and Ends
4.3 European Eye Candy
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4.3 4.3.1 4.3.1.1 4.3.1.2 4.3.1.3 4.3.2
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European Eye Candy Custom Engraved Centaures of European Engravers Austrian Gem Pieces of Art from Belgium German Eye Catchers Caveat
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4.3.1 |
Custom Engraved Centaures of European Engravers |
“Many more Centaure percussion revolvers were engraved outside the Belgian factory by me and other engravers than there are known and confirmed factory engraved pistols” muses long-time German master engraver Jürgen Hensel, owner of Rothenburger Waffeneck of Rothenburg/Germany the internationally renowned gun engraving house at www.rothenburger-waffeneck.de.
The „oldest“ New Model Armies (NMAs) custom engraved by European artists and documented in the survey of the Centaure & FROCS website https://wp.1960nma.org/ are currently only known from the 2nd half of the 1960s. These Centaures were embellished by independent engravers from Austria, Belgium and Germany. Factory marks and markings and proof marks were usually integrated into the engraving of the revolvers.
Centaure variants recorded for such projects were primarily Regular New Model Armies (RNMAs) 1st variation and 5th variation. Later during the early 1970s a few Marshal Models 1st variation were also embellished. The termination of the Centaure production in 1973, however did not mark the end of external embellisment projects of independent engravers.
4.3.1.1 |
Austrian Gem |
Master engraver Josef Widemann from Ferlach/Austria embellished RNMA 1st variation 3rd sub-variation #7295 of 1968 production. No additional personal details on Widemann could be gathered.
4.3.1.1_1 Impressions of RNMA #7295
4.3.1.1_2 Embellished by master engraver Josef Widemann from Ferlach/Austria
4.3.1.1_3 Barrel marking reads „1960 NEW MODEL ARMY“ CENTENNIAL TRADE MARK
4.3.1.1_4 Proof marks integrated into his steel canvas by act of law!
4.3.1.2 |
Pieces of Art from Belgium |
Custom engraved and gold inlaid Regular New Model Army (RNMA), 1st variation 3rd sub-variation #6093 manufactured in 1966, was presented by her first owner from Switzerland. This happened on occasion of the 3rd Annual Meeting of the FROCS in Hirschau/Germany in August of 2013.
4.3.1.2_1 RNMA #6093 engraved by undisclosed Belgian master (picture courtesy Terushi Jimbo, Düsseldorf/Germany)
Our good pard and FROCS alias Arizona Pete lives in Belgium. During the late 1960s he had a Belgian gunsmith and engraver charged with the task of engraving his Centaure. Unfortunately, Arizona Pete does not recall the name of this artist.
4.3.1.2_2 Gold inlaid rings and bordering around muzzle, breech end of barrel, cylinder, frame and recoil shield
Gold 4.3.1.2_3 Initials of the proud owner inlaid into backstrap
4.3.1.2_4 Close-up of barrel: Note barrel marking and proof marks on barrel lug are integrated in engraving