Are there enough examples out there to rule out it being done by Gough or Rentschke?
Gough came to Savage from Fox ~1930. Gough was kind of high brow and generally selected the most ornate jobs that challenged him.
Well this rifle seems to certainly qualify in regards to being an ornate job. And we know the rifle went back to the factory in 36
So....
Why not?
Often times proof is elusive.
But let's go with Gough for a moment in '36.
Spittler rec'd a rifle in 1909 with pistol grip, T/D and fancy wood.
27 years later the owner decides to send it back to Savage for engraving and checking? Which goes against "the story" from the seller.
I honestly would be surprised if the E engrave pattern survived within Savage until '36. The vast majority of Tue's work was done before 1917 and that pattern would have existed then. Of course, a person could pull the pattern from an existing E engraved rifle and proceed.
A person can connect whatever dots they wish. The above scenario seems unlikely at this point.
That moose looks just like the King rifle moose to my eye. Maybe that is a clue. King a Spittler appear to have overlapped in time with Savage. King ~1900-1910. Maybe the same person engraved both of them? 1906 &1909? William Henry Tue immigrated in 1909 and worked at Savage as an engraver. Hmmmm....
