The engravers who work for us are genuine first class masters of their craft. It is unprecedented how these craftsmen have actually forged their craft over the years. The techniques of the past are still applied today despite the arrival of the ubiquitous computer and the latest digital know-how.

Fortunately our engravings are still the product of high quality handwork. 

In the past all of the metal engravings were made by our grandfather. One of his finest and most prestigious commissions was to design a monogram for the tableware of Princess Irene. After the design had been approved by Prince Bernhard our grandfather was appointed to engrave the very extensive canteen of cutlery.

We have worked with two of the top gemstone engravers for many years: the true-born Amsterdammer Mr Hoffmann and the extremely proficient Hans de Vries. Both were trained at the Pazdernick Company, an Amsterdam firm run by a Polish family that employed several engravers. The company also had a number of trainees in their employment. 

Gemstone engravers work with an actual watchmaker’s lathe, a very small tool used for highly precise work. The engraver himself makes the milling cutters (small drills) that he uses for working on the stones. One of the materials used for making the milling cutters are new wire nails. The head of the wire nail is removed and the nail is conically ground on the lathe. A tiny ball or wheel is then fixed to the extremity, which the engraver will then use to work on the stone. The wire nails are not made of steel but of plain iron. The engraver greases the end of the milling cutter with a mixture of oil and diamond powder. This powder attaches itself to the iron making it possible to cut any kind of stone. The engraver has hundreds of different little drills that he uses for various type of work on gemstones. To become a master of the craft, learning must begin at a very young age. Bear in mind that most of a gemstone engraver’s work consists of negative engraving and that an engraver must therefore also be a skilful draughtsman.

By contrast, the metal engraver works in a totally different way. He does not use a lathe or milling cutters but has an assortment of burins which he uses to cut away the metal. 

First he draws the text or the coat of arms and then follows the lines with his burin. This method is called face engraving. This type of engraving is mostly used on silverware such as boxes, trays, mugs, napkin rings, etc. When the engraver is requested to deep engrave (signet engraving) a ring, he will have to drill out part of the coat of arms first before applying the engraving.

The stone engraver and the metal engraver use two totally different techniques and to date we have not found an engraver who has mastered both.