| Let me begin by introducing myself, my name is Greg Pauline. I am an artist and a craftsmen plying myself as a cowboy silversmith and goldsmith. I have also spent many years learning how to master the art of hand engraving. As you read further you will learn of my pedigree which I am very grateful to own. I knew I had an artistic bone growing up as a kid but I never really explored the potential that I was endowed with. In 1977, I was 19 years old and was looking for a job. I went to an employment agency and filled out a resume where I had listed having some artistic skill. Well this caught the attention of Chester Stegman, owner of The Ed Jones Company. This was a general engraving company that mainly produced police, fire protection and security officer badges. At that time it was located in Oakland, California and had been around since 1898. Chris Martell was the foreman of the shop, but not only that, he knew how to execute hand engraving. After the first time having watched him, I knew that some day I would be engraving as well. Unfortunately I would have to wait because Chris was not in the habit of taking on apprentices. Chester and members of his family had been long time metalsmiths and silversmiths. His father Chris, had owned Irvine and Jachens and his brother Howard, owned Comstock Silversmiths. It was this environment that propelled me onward to becoming the artisan and craftsman I am today. In June of 1981, I moved to Santa Rosa, California where I enrolled in the junior college to study tool and die making. I briefly worked as an assistant manager at the Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time Theatre restaurant. I also met my wife to be and six months later, in June of 1982, we were married. Shortly before getting married, I began my employment at Facet Designs located in Benicia, California. This company was owned by the partnership of Gary Gist and John Freestone (John currently owns Silverama, Inc.). Facet Designs primarily manufactured buckles using die struck and minted components. They had pioneered a process in which a die could closely replicate hand engraving but was only feasible on a mass production level. There was a need to have some work done by hand, minimal at best. I filled the position of being in charge of the custom department which consisted of myself and one other person. Gary had an engraving block and he knew I wanted to learn to engrave. He sat me down and showed me a series of bright cuts and techniques to be applied. That day he sent me home with some copper plates, the engraving block and a couple of gravers. He instructed me to fill up the plates and bring them back when I finished. I was so excited, I crammed the sheets full with engraving in two evenings and brought them back to Gary for his appraisal! He was some what impressed with the chicken scratches I managed to hack out and offered me some more engraving lessons. So for a couple of Fridays he sent me to his custom shop called Gist Silversmiths. It was there that I received some truly quality instruction from some very talented engravers, namely Jesse Deacon and Kendal Smith. Unfortunately there was a recession in full swing and I was layed off. I was able to pick up another job at Tierracast, a small jewelry foundry in Santa Rosa. Their biggest client at the time was a jewelry designer named Laurel Burch. I became a production supervisor and was involved in the manufacturing of many hundreds of thousands of jewelry parts. I worked hard and diligently at Tierracast. The owners, Steve Tierra and Alan Joseph, took notice and rewarded me with a bonus. They had bought an engraving block for me! I took it home and with much trial and error, I practiced endlessly. In February of 1985, owner Jeff Graham offered me employment at Skyline Silversmiths which was located on the Skyline Ranch in the hills of Oakland, California. It was there that I honed my skills at soldering under the watchful eye of Joan Stek. Plus I was offered much encouragement from Gilbert Rey (Skyline Silversmiths current foreman). I studied the engravers work on a daily basis. It was under the masterful hand of Hratch Nargizian that my engraving began to flourish. I was also influenced greatly by the artistry of Ethan Jacczak and Hugh Weaver as well. My wife and I started The Hiram West Company in September of 1985. At first I mostly made stuff for family and friends and their friends too. Soon I was making things for people I had never met before. My wife and I came to the conclusion that most people really appreciated my custom hand made and hand engraved work. So in August of 1987, I punched the time clock at Skyline Silversmiths for the very last time. We packed the house and our family and moved to the small town of Cedar Ridge, smack dab in the middle of California's Sierra foothills gold country. And the rest, as they say, is history! |
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