[Buckspen]

Master Engravers Steve Kamyk and Dennis Kies were both engraving for Colt in the 1990s. John Adams and Denise Thirion also. Tom Freyburger and John Pease are more recent and I am not familiar with their work but have seen guns factory engraved by them. I don't recall an engraver with the initials JC.
Do you have an Achive letter on the gun? An Archive letter will usually name the engraver if it was Master level engraved, but not always. Lesser levels of engraving are usually not named.
- - Bruce in Ohio

 

[Buckspen]

I don't know offhand when Ben Lane was engraving for Colt. The books I have are not clear on that.
Jan Gwinnell was another Colt engraver. I have one by him that was shipped in 1986. JG could be mistaken for JC, I suppose; however, my Jan Gwinnell engraved gun is signed with his full last name under the grips on the left side of the trigger guard at the bottom.
TriggerTripper - I am curious how you know that the grip frame is stamped "JC" if you are not willing to take the grips off. When I get a Colt with factory engraving, the first thing I do is to take the grips off to see if there are any stampings on the trigger guard/back strap (serial numbers and/or engraver's name) and, if the gun has ivory grips, to treat the ivories with mineral oil.

Second generation factory engraved Single Action Army revolvers were almost never signed by the engraver. Exceptions might be some of those engraved by William Mains who used a small "buffalo" figure on his guns. A factory Master engraved 3rd gen Single Action Army will usually, but not always, be signed under the grips and Archive letters on such guns will usually, but not always, name the engraver. Expert and lower level engraved guns will be marked "COLT ENG" on the left side of the trigger guard at the bottom, are not signed and not usually named in an Archive letter.
- - Bruce in Ohio

 

[Buckspen]

Victorio - Thanks for the information about Mr. Lane. He is mentioned in many of my engraving books, but I haven't seen any statements as to when he was doing Colt factory engraving. I know from talking with the folks at Colt Archives that he did some but the dates are hazy.
- Bruce in Ohio

 

[Buckspen]

TT - I am at a loss as to what the "JC" letters might mean. It's a very nice gun and you should be proud of it. I agree about not sending the grips off somewhere. It would be a tragedy if they got lost or damaged. They look really great they way they are. One-piece ivories are the best in my opinion.

 

[Buckspen]

Well, that may depend on what books you look at. I recently went through all of my Colt books and listed ALL of the FACTORY engraved Single Action Armys shown. I did not consider a gun factory engraved unless it was stated to be so or there was corroborating evidence of some kind (reference to a Custom Shop order number or something similar). Most of the general engraving books (i.e. those by R.L. Wilson) showed many non-factory engraved guns, but Wilkerson's books were usually very specific about it. It was a great project for these days of shelter-in-place. It was fun, educational, and kept me busy for a week or two.
- - - Bruce in Ohio