After the discussion about how @riobravo’s ranger buckle was made, I decided I would post my questions about my Derrick Gordon cuff separately rather than hijack the buckle thread.
I’ve had a very similar question about how the side designs on the cuff were made. They remind me of her buckle, however I know that this is not cast. Are these marks made by stamping, or are they overlay? I have no clue, although if I had to guess I would think maybe overlay?
This picture is brighter…
This is such a beautiful cuff, Zia!
Could you please share a side profile shot, showing the surface I’ve pointed to in red?
Yes, let me find some good light since it’s so gloomy today. I’m off work so I thought it was a good time to dig into it.
And thank you, I really love this cuff. Although I actually love the Harrison Jim one just as much, so I guess I was very fortunate that I was able to get them both in the end!
I don’t have a super fancy phone camera so these aren’t very sharp. Is this what you meant? And does that help?
The area to the right looks like it is swedged out, from the stamp work performed, and the imperfections I’ve pointed to multiple times looks like displaced material from the same process. Looking at your most recent photos, it definitely looks deformation caused by stamp work. What say you, @mmrogers?
Gosh, I didn’t even notice that. I saw a video of his dad working, and he most definitely does stamp work.
These impressions are created with a single simple triangle stamp @Ravenscry. Each impression placed beside the last impression and individually hand stamped. Beautiful workmanship, @Ziacat. All hand fabricated embossed stampwork by a truly expert hand.
Thank you so much for that explanation! Makes sense, but I totally kept thinking it looked like it could be overlay, and yet I didn’t understand how it could be that either. I’ve been puzzled by it for a long time.
The cuff had been for sale for over 9 years at Twin Rocks till I picked it up last spring. I can’t believe they had it that long, but they are in a bit of an out of the way area, although they also had it on their online site. I guess that worked out for me! Plus because I bought it in person and paid cash I got a nice little discount.
Thank you!! But I have to ask because I’m a little clueless, what does “swedged out” mean?
I apologize for throwing around trade terms without explaining myself. 
Generally, in the metals industry, to “swedge” or “swage” refers to working metal into a specific shape through forging or some kind of pressure, as in a stamping die. In the case of your cuff, I loosely applied the term to refer to the change in the outer profile.
If you start at the bottom of your cuff, the silver is smooth and un-worked near the edge, but as we move up, the profile makes a dramatic shift “outward”. My first impression was that this was caused by the stamp work performed on the top side. When Mr. Gordon was precisely placing heavy blows with his hammer, the silver under his stamp(s) has to go somewhere; in other words, it was displaced, and on your cuff, it just widened the profile. There’s nothing better than seeing stuff like this. As @mmrogers points out, it speaks to the hand-worked nature of your incredible cuff. 
Here is an example of swedged tubing; in this case, it refers to the change in outside diameter.
Great explanation, Aaron. One of the things we look for when examining a hand stamped piece of jewelry is how the metal is naturally displaced by deep stamping. It’s quite common to have a bracelet, or a concha spread out 1/8” of an inch or more from its original dimensions just from deep stamping.
Now it makes sense. I know I could have looked it up, but I had a feeling you would explain it in a way I could understand how it’s actually done regarding jewelry. I highly prefer learning from you as versus Google 
Thank you for your detailed explanation, I really appreciate it. I never even noticed any of that until I took the close-ups, and you pointed it out. So fun to learn about the work going into the making of this jewelry. I also enjoyed the video I watched of his dad making a cuff. It looks so time-consuming and difficult.
I love how much knowledge is shared here! But I will never remember everything I’ve read. Thank goodness I can search the forum for it.
