Question: Seeking info about FLOYD E WARREN engraver.

[CENTAG]

There is limited information about Mr Warren online. A short bio and eight or ten photos of his work. I know there are at least two books with some information but I don't know if it is worth buying the books.

I purchased one of his amazing guns last year. I had never seen this type of engraving before. Naturally I am curious. Perhaps someone here can help me.


The is a S&W pre 27 3.5" revolver. Mr Warren placed his name and a date under the the stocks (which he also made!) 1958 Feb-March

I hope you enjoy seeing these.

The theme seems to be Br'er Rabbit, the trickster, out witting Mr Hawk by racing for cover. Will he make it or does the Hawn dive down an snatch him up? An Uncle Remus tale about life in the American South.

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[JJ Roberts]

Floyd,Was a student of Roy Vail gun builder and gun engraver I to was luck to meet Roy and get some advice. J.J.

 

[CENTAG]

Floyd,Was a student of Roy Vail gun builder and gun engraver I to was luck to meet Roy and get some advice. J.J.

What type of engraving and adding color is his work known as? Surely the weapon was never meant to be fired.

 

[Ron Spokovich]

In the first edition of "American Engravers", there is a feature on Floyd Warren, for three pages, showing some of his work. I don't know of what else may be out there, unless a rare magazine, or two, is floating around. Sometime, people just don't get wide coverage, and some of them don't want to or are too busy. As far as you ask, 'is it worth it', that depends on your judgement call, and depth of your pockets.

 

[CENTAG]

This the info I wanted.

In the first edition of "American Engravers", there is a feature on Floyd Warren, for three pages, showing some of his work. I don't know of what else may be out there, unless a rare magazine, or two, is floating around. Sometime, people just don't get wide coverage, and some of them don't want to or are too busy. As far as you ask, 'is it worth it', that depends on your judgement call, and depth of your pockets.

Thank you sir.
I have found that a new copy of American Engraves can be purchased for $59, I can get that. One hard back copy of American Engravers was on Amazon for $159. That price put me off the idea of buying the book.

I know about another book, Steel Canvas, which also has some info but again I don't know much. And someplace I found reference to an old magazine article. Perhaps that will be online digitized somewhere.

I am curious (but not excessively) about the man and his work. He also painted, sketched and was a woodworker. It would be a pretty safe assumption that he made and designed the grips. The motif on them is mid 1950's modern art.

Ron, Thanks for your help. It is appreciated.

Best regards,
Joe

 

[Gemsetterchris]

That engraving looks dire by today's standards.

 

[Roger Bleile]

Joe,

I wrote a biography of Floyd Warren in my 1980 edition of American engravers. If you can buy a copy for $59. snap it up. That, long out of print book usually sells in the range of $200. on Amazon. Floyd Warren was not featured in American Engravers-The 21st Century or my latest, American Engravers III as Mr. Warren was deceased by the time they were written. By the way, the picture you posted of Warren and got from the Internet is from my first book and is also on my Internet engraving glossary. http://www.engravingglossary.com/Hand Engraving Glossary E.htm

I noticed that you have several inquiries about Warren and your gun in various places on the Internet, where you got some answers. A couple of facts about Warren, not in my book are: He was also known as "Fiddelin' Floyd" to some of his friends due to his violin playing and that in old age his eyesight failed but later advances in ophthalmology allowed him to engrave again until the end of his life.

At the time that Warren was most active, there were few highly skilled gun engravers in the US. While Warren's work is not on the level of Winston G. Churchill, Lynton S. M. McKenzie, or Leonard Francolini, his engraving was considered quite good because it was very ornate. By the standards of today's better engravers, Warren's work is somewhat naive.

 

[Ron Spokovich]

To CENTAG regarding Floyd E. Warren, as I checked out my copy of "Steel Canvas", 1995, by R.L. Wilson, I did only find one reference to any 'Wilson', and, that was to John E. Warren, of late, on page 299. Shown is a pair of single action Army pistols, nicely done. Floyd E. Warren is NOT mention within this book, and none of his work appears. Thus, I wouldn't go on a seek-and-find mission to look for this text, unless you want to expand whatever collection you now have. My stack of books is around two feet high, and worth over $1k, being bought years back. Partially, for investment reasons, they were purchased, as someday these books will disappear. The Cafe site has many photos of beautiful, so why not start at your desk?

 

[Ron Spokovich]

Another typo, being in too much of a hurry. I did not mean ". . .any 'Wilson',. . .. I meant ". . .any 'Warren',. . .. Typing too fast doesn't work well!

 

[Roger Bleile]

Note: Floyd E. Warren (Ohio) and John E. Warren (Mass.) are to different and unrelated engravers who were active in the same time period.

Below is a picture of John E. Warren.

 

[Roger Bleile]

FWIW, I have attached two images of John Warren's work on a Model 1886 Winchester below. As you can see, John used a more Germanic style of scrollwork.

 

[Samx]

I'm not sure this thread is still 'alive' but I thought I'd add on to it showing another masterpiece by Floyd E. Warren...

This one is, of course, a Government/Army issue, Colt 1911, manufactured in 1913 (!).

I also own a matching Colt 1903 - thereby he created a matched set of two Colts.

I've learned to like, respect and admire his skill, style and work.

Sam