Work Of A Master
One of the guild’s founding members, the late Howard Dove, worked on the featured Colt Frontier Six Shooter. Few have reached the pinnacle he attained in his short life.
According to admirers, Dove grew up near Blacksburg and always had an interest in drawing and shooting. He harvested his first squirrel at the tender age of five. As he grew, he became a crack shot, especially with a .22-caliber rifle. He was locally known for splitting a .22-caliber bullet on an ax blade after using a mirror to aim over his shoulder. He could also shoot a bullet through a pop bottle without chipping the neck, using the same technique. His dream was to become an exhibition shooter for Remington or Winchester,
His shooting skills served him well as a Green Beret and during his survival of a tour in Vietnam. When he returned from his enlistment in the early 1970s, Dove spotted an engraved firearm in Gun Digest and decided engraving was the direction he wanted to take his life. Dove started teaching himself to engrave with a rusty screwdriver and a block of scrap steel. As he got better, Dove used almost anything metal, including quarters. “I used to engrave lines in the hair on old George’s head,” Dove said.
By 1978, Dove had excelled enough to catch the attention of Al DeJohn at Colt Firearms. By the early ’80s, Dove achieved the status of Colt Master Engraver. Dove loved his work but missed his home in Virginia. With the blessing of his fellow engravers, Dove left in 1985 to return to the New River Valley and set up his own business. The move actually expanded his market. From there, he did work for Colt’s and Winchester’s custom shops. As far as I know, Howard Dove was one of only two men ever employed as a master engraver by Colt and Winchester simultaneously.
He was the most highly regarded engraver by Colt Collector’s Association members at the time. He engraved six annual show guns for the CCA, more than any other engraver. Dove was a prolific engraver and many of his works are found in various gun books: Classic Colt Peacemakers, The Colt Engraving Book Volume Two, Colt and Its Collectors, Winchester, An American Legend, and numerous magazine articles.
An owner of a Howard Dove masterpiece is in rare company. His clientele included Gene Autry, Sammy Davis, Jr., Hank Williams, Jr., John Wayne, Michael Wayne, Tom Selleck and many others.
Sadly, Howard Dove died suddenly in 1994 at the age of 52. His death left a void in the American engraving family.
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