A double signed boxlock shotgun from two master engravers, Rudolph Kornbrath and William Gough, is the top lot of Rock Island Auction Company's September 12-14 Premiere Firearms Auction in Illinois.
 The ornate decoration is some of the finest shotgun engraving |
The spectacular gun dates to 1912 and is a superb piece, made independently while the two artists were working for Colt. It holds a $150,000-280,000 estimate, complete with a matching numbered twin barrel set.
The gun was made by AH Fox. At the time of making both Kornbrath and Gough, from Austria and the UK, respectively, had joined the Colt factory in the US, and had become known as two of the top men in the Hartford engraving game.
Moonlighting, Gough was tasked with a full redesign of Fox's engraving patterns, and oversaw a team of 20, while only using his superior skills for the finest examples.
 William Gough worked for Colt, but was moonlighting with AH Fox, while Rudolph Kornbrath took both private and corporate commissions - both have signed their names |
The shotgun is decorded with a 4 ¾ inch scene of a Native American woman on a hunt, which features a buck springing over a branch, as well as an (understandably) angry bear that has just received an arrow to its shoulder.
Gold inlays are found throughout the decoration, with a pointer dog on each side and flowers on the recoil shield, as well as a pair of geese in flight on the trigger guard. With foliate scrollwork all over, this is one of the finest and most ornate engraved shotguns to be sold at auction.
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