Question: The greatest

Hora

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In the past few months I have read many books about famous and fabulous engravers. But, not all of them fit my taste and others are completely inspiring.

Although some of the great engravers are no longer amongst us, they are remembered and admired for their art. Luckily many of the great are very alive and cutting.

It would be nice to know who the most celebrated patriarch of modern-day engravers is.

So, who is your Stimulus or your Mentor? Who is the Motor behind your efforts today?
 

Sam

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In my opinion, Winston Churchill is the greatest engraver America has ever known .
 

Roger Bleile

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In my opinion, Winston Churchill is the greatest engraver America has ever known .

I must agree but there are a few very close to him. It would be much more difficult to pick second best in the USA and I won't try.

Once you get into Europe and the UK it is much harder to pick one above all. Perhaps we would have to break them down by nationality. Like everyone else, my choices are influenced by my own tastes and I would not expect everyone to agree with me but I will go out on a limb and list some.

Austria: Martin Strolz
Belgium: Alain Lovenberg
Estonia: Viljo Mirandi
France: Pierre Chapuis
Germany: Hendrik Frühauf
Italy: I can't decide between Firmo Fracassi, Gianfranco Pedersoli, and Mario Terzi
Spain: Jordi Solé Sellarès
UK: Another tough call between the Brown brothers, Phil Coggan, and Ken Hunt

I would like to hear from engravers in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Asia as to their idea of the best in those areas.

The last time this came up I got flamed for writing about the best because the question was "favorite" so I replied Scott Pilkington because we are pals. So now I have covered both bases.
 

Barry Lee Hands

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Yes, its hard to Beat Churchill in the USA.
Looking to the rest of the world, Ken Hunt is my favorite, his body of work, is incredible, and in the mid sixties and seventies, there were very few even close to his level. If you look at the trade when he started, in 1953 I believe it was, and where he took it, almost alone in the lead by 1970 or so, no one can touch him.
I believe Ken has had the greatest influence on his peers, of any living engraver.
Of the Italians, in a similar class is Fracassi. His body of work is huge, and though he now does his trademark Fracassi style, in the past he did scroll, deep relief, sculpted gold and about anything you could think of.
 

bram ramon

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Belgium;Alain Lovenberg,Jean Marie Martens,Pascal Jacoby, Luciano Gironi, Italy;Frederique Lepinois, Firmo Fracassi UK;Phil Coggan, Katia Flipovic USA; Wiston Churchill, Brian Hochstrat, Jason Marchiafava. Austria; Martin Strolz; Germany; Sebastian Leyh
 

oiseau metal arts

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There are so many whos work i am inspired by, Lately ive been looking at the work of Brian Hochstrat and thinking, "How can i make my work look that good?"
 

Beathard

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This one us easy for me. The greatest are not those masters that make perfect images in metal. Rather, they are the engravers that take the new engravers and pull them kicking and screaming to a higher level. Many of them are on this forum - Marty, Rex, Sam, Diane and the rest of you guys that spend a large amount for time helping the rest of us.
 

Arnaud Van Tilburgh

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"So, who is your Stimulus or your Mentor? Who is the Motor behind your efforts today?"


Hora, sure Chris DeCamillis is my guide on engraving.
My Stimulus, my Motor, it is me who is behind these efforts.

arnaud
 

Mike Fennell

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So many greats, so little time. I agree with all of the above and could add many more names.

Perhaps at this point I need to spend less time looking at the work of others and more time concentrating on finishing my own humble projects.
 

Hora

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Reading the posts there are a lot of names I had not heard from until now. Personally I have to go with Beathard. People on this and other forums helping and guiding are of great influence. :thumbsup:

Going through books I encounter so many great art and artists it is difficult to pick one. I notice for myself that I am not focused to one specific style yet. :thinking:

The ones that have me stimulated to engrave are Ron Smith, Rex Pederson, Andrew Biggs, Evan Lindquist and Mart Rabeno. Some by being among the first that I met others that I met and talked to later on.

Some of the people that have helped me a lot are Andrew Biggs, Sam Alfano and Dave Riccardo. :clapping:

Styles that I admire are from Lee Grifith, Sam Alfano, Steve Lindsay, Creative Art and many more.

Then there is this world of engravers. I mean the interaction, friendliness, gatherings, forums, exchange of knowledge and jokes and so on. That is inspiring as well. It is something I cannot find on a similar level elsewhere.

Thanks:tiphat:
 

JJ Roberts

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favorite engravers

I've always admired the engraving of Winston Chuchill and Steve Lindsay,also like what Mike Dubber and Leonard Francolini are engraving on the Colt SAA's.:thumbsup:J.J.
 

monk

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perhaps not "world renound as the votes may go"
roger bleile for his monogrammed flarecut buckle
tira mitchell for a variety of work she has done. yes, there's a truckload of engravers whose work goes way beyond these two, but those are my 2 pics.
 

mrthe

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The mines : Sam Alfano , Steve Lindsay , Ray Cover Jr, Christian DeCamillis,Phil Coggan,Ron Landis......and many more, i have to say that in this forum and in others too i have meet a lot of people and great artists that are too a great reference and an inspiration for me in my learning adventure in engraving , like... Roger Bleile, JJ Roberts,Gert Mathys,Roland Baptiste,Lee Griffiths, Andrew Biggs,Barry Lee Hands,Keith Pedersen,Andy Gonzales and many many more , we are lucky to have a lot of artists heare that ,day by day ,show and share with us his Art and his knowledges , i think that at the last this is my real stimulus,menthor amd motor behind my efforts.
Thank you, thank you very much to all!
 

GTJC460

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Easy....Sam Alfano and my grandfather A. Clark Reid

These are the two biggest influences in my engraving work.

I highly admire the work of all the prior mentioned gun and knife engravers. Who knows if I will ever get into this. I'd like to but at this time jewelry engraving is my main focus and these two have certainly been the most influential in my work.
 

Sam

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I would like to ask Winston Churchill, Who he thinks is the best and who influenced him.

Not sure who he thinks is the best, but I do know he was influenced by Joe Fugger and Rudolph Kornbrath to name two. And as many of us have, was possibly influenced by J.M. Bergling, but I've never asked him this.
 

zzcutter

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Hey Sam,

Been studying your work a lot I love the way it flows and the balance of scroll and back round. Your one of my Hero's for sure, keep up all the great work this site is the greatest resource for all Engravers. Thanks again, Jon
 

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