thanks mr barton.. i hope one day to add one of his cases to my collection...
When you really study his work you can see the intricacy in his tooling and the depth of his art.
I look at a LOT of tooling, I have books by some great teachers and have compiled a library of images of what I call exceptional tooling.
When you really get down to it and compare Chas' tooling with that of so many other great toolers you will find small details and twists that aren't apparent at first glance, you will see shapes that you don't see with others. The reason is because Chas owns a collection of stamps with some of them more than 100 years old and which are no longer made. And he is proficient with all of them.
He fits everything to the space perfectly and has a particularly keen sense of balance.
And it's not just his tooling that is exceptional. Look closely at the construction of his cases and sheathes. Everything is made to the highest standard with not a stitch out of place.
This afternoon I spent a little time watching the slideshow version of the gallery I pointed you to. This blows up all the pictures and shows off the details. Every time I do that I see something new that I haven't seen before on one of his pieces.
Chas Clements is still the unquestioned master at the art of the envelope style tooled case in my opinion. There are others knocking on the door surely but they have a LONG LONG LONG way to go to capture his attention to detail, intricacy of design, and mastery of the art.
If he gets back in the business and is able to produce cases that are anywhere close to what he has done then he will easily reclaim the number one spot as "the case" to own if you are a serious collector.