Brought in our wedding cake set to be engraved. They turned out great! Thank you Gilson's!

In the past several weeks we have had several gifts engraved at Gilson's. always excellent customer service, finished at the time promised and pricing is great. A couple things I purchased there to be engraved, and a couple I brought in something that I purchased elsewhere and had engraved here. Either way, exceptional service. Will definitely continue to use Gilson's. read more

Really disappointed. They were rude and unresponsive. Then when they tried to rectify the problem the employees blatantly gossiped about me in front of me. I used to love this store. read more

Tony Gilson, a master hand engraver trained in England, founded the store now known as Gilson's Engraving in 1974 in Downtown Cincinnati, according to its website. Gilson's is now located in a new 7,000-square foot building in Madeira, with a 2,300-square foot show room, as well as a workshop and stockroom. Gilson's is great for all occasions, including for weddings, graduations, Christmas, and even for baby gifts. They offer a very large selection of elegant gifts including clocks, bowls, silverware, picture frames, and Lenox trays, and they also engrave plaques, awards, and business signage as well, among other things. Some of Gilson's top manufacturers include Waterford and Swarovski Crystal, and they will engrave glass gifts too. Gilson's will even engrave items that weren't even purchased at their store, and they also offer engravings for iPods and cell phones for $25 and $20, respectively. The showroom is really nice and even items not engraved are great for gifts. I recommend stopping into the store, but I also suggest checking out their website to see the numerous possibilities and samples of acrylics, modern art awards, glass awards, and presentation pieces, among others read more

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I found this place on yelp while looking for a place to do some commemorative engraving in a presentation piece. The owner, Tom, was very helpful and offered several suggestions that would meet our needs. We selected a piece Kate in the afternoon and it was completed and ready for pickup early the next morning. Excellent customer service, reasonable prices l, and a great selection. Highly recommended. read more

This is the greatest store! The staff is incredibly friendly, helpful and creative. They know me by name. They always help me find the perfect gift at my exact price point. I think I've bought 50 gifts there over the last couple of years, ranging from $25 to $200. The last engraved gift I bought brought tears to the eyes of the recipient. Thank you, Gilson's! read more

Worst customer service on the planet Ordered some awards from these people- it was like dealing with the Keystone Cops! Owner is clueless and unconcerned about quality and customer satisfaction. I complained about the service I got from an employee and owner was unapologetic and kept saying she didn't know anything about it The most insulting part is that I've been a customer there since they were located in the mall! Will never shop here or recommend this place agin, I think it's time to retire!! read more

I would leave a 0 star if I could. I had 10 knives that I wanted engraved I was told $25 per knife which is a fair price. When I went to pick them it it was $65 per knife almost triple! When I arrived and asked why it was so expensive an older lady gave me nothing but attitude about why it was so expensive. I understand quality work costs money but I get this done 3-4 times a year and have never paid this much nor have I had to the engravers job by converting my logo to several different formats only for him to call me and tell me he can't do. It wasn't the format it wasn't even the machine he said it was him that couldn't doit! And the worst part is I left them a sticker of my logo and font and the blade font was completely wrong!I feel this place likes to charge out of towners double well in my case almost triple! Next time I will ship my items out of town to be engraved and shipped back and still save half of what I paid for incorrect work. If you want to get ripped off and have attitude thrown at you then use this place otherwise I advise staying clear of this place. read more

I went to Gilson to get a trophy engraved and when I went back to pick it up it was done incorrectly they told me to come back in a week I would back it still was not completed they told me would take 10 minutes and ended up taking about 35 minutes and they were very rude in the process. I would not recommend them going forward read more

I had a last minute gift I needed engraved and then shipped from Cincinnati to California. They let me into the store before it opened to drop off my gift and promised it would be done the next morning so I could ship it. It was ready before the said time. The engraving was beautiful -- and the woman helping me gift wrapped my bottle without me asking. It wasn't as expensive as I thought it might be for a last minute job. I will becoming here (although it's 20 minutes out of my way) for future gifts! read more

I've used this store for three different engraving projects. They've engraved items I purchased at their store and items I've bought elsewhere. The good: They work with you to make the digital file to use for engraving. They engrave items that weren't purchased at their store. Reasonable prices. Fast turnaround. They did great engravings on two stainless steel pieces I bought at Things to Remember for a better price. The bad: They failed to mention that engravings on their silver-plated items will corrode (in less than a year!). Also, they ruined two crystal flutes that were very meaningful to us (used at wedding). Before our flutes were engraved, we carefully reviewed the digital files, fixed issues, and actually engraved a tester flute (which I personally went to the store to confirm the engraving was good, and they even said the engraving would show up better in the final flutes since the latter were made of a better material). Context : I bought 6 silver plated items at their store and they engraved them. The engraving came out great, but after just a couple of months, an orange color started to show through the engravings.  After the fact, they told me the base metal of the pieces was brass (and I guess the pieces don't have a thick enough silver layer). After over 30 years in the business, this cannot be a surprise for them. These pieces were used for bridesmaids' gifts, so it was very disappointing to see that they were getting ugly (and so soon!). I suggested them to inform this to their customers up front, especially when most customers that use their services are trying to make long-lasting mementos. The last time I visited their store, I wanted to engrave wedding crystal flutes with the same design they had properly engraved in the silver-plated items I just mentioned. Since the flutes weren't "plated" with anything, I wouldn't have the same issue as before and so I decided to give the store another chance. It was an awful decision. They ruined both flutes, and their excuse was they didn't know the flutes were made of crystal. I find this very very hard to believe given that the flutes were delivered at their store with the original Riedel packaging (which indicates what they are made of), and I have email correspondence in which they confirm the flutes were made of crystal. Their website says they "specialize" in engraving "pieces in crystal". They also sell crystal flutes at their store for engraving. With all this knowledge and experience they still managed to ruin not one, but both flutes!! They tried to mend things by properly engraving some lower quality, non-crystal flutes and not charging us anything. But unfortunately, this doesn't really improve things at all -the wedding mementos are still ruined. They also said they redid the engraving in another set of the same kind of flutes we brought in, but that the engraving still didn't come out right. I don't know if I believe them, though. I definitely don't trust them given the negative outcomes in multiple projects I did with them. I don't know of another local engraving store in Cincinnati, but I won't be coming back and will keep others advised. The potential benefits definitely outweigh the negatives. I don't even recall them ever apologizing for any of these mistakes, which makes this all the more sad. read more

What a great store! Family run, very friendly and helpful! I stopped in after seeming a newspaper ad for engraved Moscow Mule cups. I will definitely go back and will recommend. Prices are very reasonable. read more

Gilson's has a nice location right in the heart of Madeira, they also have a nice selection of pieces. The downside, really expensive engraving, yowza. read more

I called Gilsons while searching for a golden apple award. While they were out of stock, they didn't send me away empty handed, they searched suppliers until they found a beautiful replacement, that I was more than satisfied with-all within my 2 week time frame. read more