Engraved Glock 19 Pistols – Yes, That’s a Thing

These three Glocks are lots 1731 (simplest), 1732 (intermediate), and 1733 (best) in the upcoming May 2019 Rock Island auction.

Would you believe it? Factory engraved Glocks are actually a thing! They have not made all that many, but they do turn up from time to time, recognizable by their ELP serial prefixes. These three were displayed by Glock at the 2002 SHOT Show, and are now on the civilian market. They were made as a set of three, in three different levels of engraving. All three of these are G19s, although other factory engraved guns include a variety of other models – 17, 17L, 19, 22, 26, etc. Scoff if you want, but I guarantee these will be highly sought-after collectibles in time…

21 Comments

  1. More flats than most other samples that engravers could not stop themselves… Easy work, rich visuality…

  2. Presentation-grade Tupperware. I’m a bit surprised that more engraving is always assumed to be better. Even in truly ‘klassy’ engraving there’s a tendency toward clutter.

  3. Not nearly as pimpin’ as my gold tiger stripe Dessy! Everybody knows I got fat stacks when I’m open-carrying the Fitty!
    Seriously though, I’ve always thought companies made these engraved firearms solely for investment-minded collectors. Even presentation guns end up on the auction block (see Kruschev’s shotgun featured here a while back).
    Personally, I don’t care for such things. Some light accent engraving is tasteful, but that’s it. Yes, these guns showcase the engraver’s skill, but they’re not classy & border on hideous.
    However, given that Magnum Research stocks Desert Eagles in a variety of tiger stripe finishes & leopard print hydro-dipping, maybe people with more money than good sense are attracted to such gaudy trinkets.
    (Disclaimer: I do not actually own a gold tiger stripe Desert Eagle!)

  4. In Germany and Austria, many gunsmiths have a long history of engraving rifles, and carving the stocks. This pretty much fell out of fashion in Western Europe, but the businesses still exists..with almost all webpages being accessible in Russian and Arab language. There, engraving is still a thing.

    • It’s easy to lean back and scoff at those seemingly lavish engraved Glocks, but who are we to tell others about aesthetics? And as look at the Mossberg 464 SPX is enough to see that the West’s modern sense of aesthetics may be a bit odd as well.

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