Question: Gun & Grouse:

[Crazy Horse]

I have a deliemma. I purchased a book at the "Vintagers" titled "An Artist's Game Bag" by Lynn Bogue Hunt. In it I found this wonderfully interesting drawing of a Grouse in flight and the barrels of a SxS shotgun at the ready.

I wanted to see if I could cut it and have it come out looking somewhat like the picture. Well it came out OK I guess, but I showed it to a few of my hunting buddies and they asked if they could buy it from me or make another for them.

The problem is that I often copy other's work or photos of game and make my clips from them. I make a point to change the theme so that it is not an exact copy. That's not the case here as this is a good copy. the book has NO mention of copy rights. None at all anywhere in the book.

So my question to all of you is, is it ethical to sell this money clip and possibly make a few more? If not, I'm content to put it in my own pocket to hold what little cash my wife permits me;~)

Take a look. It isn't quite finished as I still need to do a little touch up work on it and polishing.

 

[pilkguns]

Lynn Bogue Hunt had a lot of wonderful illustrations that I see pop up in engravings from time to time, ( yes even mine in early days)

Is it ethical? You are not trying to pass it off as someone elses work, it is in a completely different medium and is no way a "mirror image". If you want to say, Inspiration by LBH, in any publicity or advertising, you do with this piece then I think your concious should be clear.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

That's a tough question because it has multiple answers and you have to be really careful.

Theoretically if you are going to copy the artists work for reproduction then you should get permission to do so. There might even be a payment involved somewhere in the transaction. It is no different from copying another engravers design on a gun. Even if you give them credit for it.

The reality is that most people will take ideas or inspiration from someone else's work. For instance a lion on a gun.............not many people have access to a real lion so they will simply resource the pictures from books or the internet. They will then place the lion in a scene, alter it slightly to suit their needs and then cut it. To me personally, that is fair enough because it's a practical thing to do and a trip to Africa to photograph your own lions is not really the go.

Taking someone else's idea or concept and altering it to your own interpretation is also fair enough. None of us operate in a bubble and we all take other peoples ideas and modify them either on a conscious or subliminal level. History is littered with that otherwise we would all still be driving around in Henry Ford's original car.

That you have cut one for yourself and own personal use is also fine.........but to sell them to others is where you start crossing boundaries. To take someone else's idea and design and copy it as close as you can..........well, that's purely a matter for your conscience. That fact that you asked tells me that you already have a prickling idea that it's somehow not quite right.

Always remember what the professional thing to do is. A bad reputation gets around a lot quicker than a good one. To me, the concept of the grouse and gun could be easily reworked with a bit of tinkering and lateral thinking. Something that you have done before on other projects.

And of course there is always the purely cynical answer and that is to keep it under the radar, tell no one, sell a few to your mates and move on.

I think you already know the answer to your question

Cheers
Andrew

 

[mitch]

from a purely practical point of view, Lynn Bogue Hunt has been dead for 50 yrs and it's not clear any heirs still hold any copyrights to his work. take a look around at the renderings of "Coming Thro the Rye" & other much more famous paintings that have been engraved on guns over the years. i wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

 

[diandwill]

And you can engrave a quick credit 'based on a photo by..."
engraved by...

 

[Crazy Horse]

"And you can engrave a quick credit 'based on a photo by..."
engraved by..."

That's exactly what I did. On the back I always cut "Engr. by ME" and on this one I also added "Art by Lynn Bogue Hunt."

If I do another perhaps I'll change the gun to and Over/Under and give the bird legs.

 

[monk]

could you perhaps call the book publisher ? maybe they could clear this up real quick. i'd think this would be known to them whether or not you could have your way with the image.