THE MAGNIFICENT CASED SET OF DELUXE COLT NAVY REVOLVERS, CUSTOM-MADE ON ORDER OF INDUSTRIALIST COLONEL SAMUEL COLT, FOR PRESENTATION AND DISPLAY AT WORLD'S FAIRS AND EXPOSITIONS

Details

THE MAGNIFICENT CASED SET OF DELUXE COLT NAVY REVOLVERS, CUSTOM-MADE ON ORDER OF INDUSTRIALIST COLONEL SAMUEL COLT, FOR PRESENTATION AND DISPLAY AT WORLD'S FAIRS AND EXPOSITIONS
THE GOLD INLAID AND ENGRAVED BY GUSTAVE YOUNG, 1853

Model 1851 Belt or Navy Revolvers, serial numbers 20133 and 23477, each accompanied by dot marking indicating special preparation for engraving and inlaying

Serial Number 20133

Flush gold inlaid on barrel breech 'Sam!. Colt', the left side of frame flush gold 'COLTS/PATENT' within intricate gold-inlaid border; naval engagement scene roll engraved on cylinder periphery, and 'COLTS PATENT No. 20133' flush gold inlaid; fine, profuse, intricate, foliate scroll engraving on hatched ground on backstrap and triggerguard strap; wolf head hammer motif with teeth, tongues and eyes gold inlaid, decorative border engraved in circular motif on flat of barrel at muzzle, extremely fine, profuse, intricate, foliate scroll gold inlay includes numerous animal and bird motifs, much of the detail accentuated with hand engraving; wolf, dog, fox, sheep, lion, spotted cat, serpent and bird, located on frame, cylinder, hammer, barrel and loading lever. The several wildlife figures gold inlaid include wolves, eagles, serpents, a dog-like beast, and a dragon-like beast; reclining lion gold inlaid on left side of frame, the framed, cylinder, hammer, screw heads, barrel, wedge, and loading lever bordered with gold inlay; low-relief sculpted gold-inlaid motifs of Liberty and crouching lion on left side of barrel lug, and Indian on horseback aiming cocked revolver at buffalo on right side of barrel lug; minutely checkered hammer spur; British proofmarks on cylinder and barrel, steel blade front sight mounted on steel base dove-tailed onto barrel; high gloss-blued finish, with case hardened hammer and loading lever; gold-plated backstrap and triggerguard strap; one-piece grips of varished select walnut--.36 caliber, six shot, 7½in. octagonal barrel

Serial Number 23477

Flush gold inlaid on barrel breech, 'ADDRESS SAM COLT NEW YORK CITY', left side of frame flush gold inlaid 'COLTS/PATENT' within intricate gold-inlaid border; naval engagement scene roll engraved on cylinder periphery, and 'COLTS PATENT No. 23477' flush gold-inlaid, fine, profuse, intricate, foliate scroll engraving on hatched ground on barrel, loading lever, wedge, frame, hammer, backstrap and tiggerguard strap, including wolf-head hammer with teeth, tongues and eyes in gold; grotesque animal head engraved on left and right sides of barrel lug; gold-inlaid motifs, much of the detail accentuated with hand engraving, include stalking leopard on left side of barrel lug, running bear on right side of barrel lug, eagle with outstretched wings on left side of frame, wolf-like head in profile on left side of recoil shield; flush gold-inlaid borders on frame, cylinder, hammer, barrel, wedge, and loading lever; screwheads engraved with floral motifs; minutely checkered hammer spur, British proofmarks on cylinder and barrel; brass cone front sight, high gloss-blued finish, with case hardened hammer and loading lever; gold-plated backstrap and triggerguard strap; one piece grips of varnished select walnut--.36 caliber, six shot, 7½in. octagonal barrel

Casing of brass-bound oak, lined in green baize, of English manufacture for the Colt factory; brass disk and folding, curved handle inlaid in lid; accessories of bag flask, marked on top, 'COLTS NAVY FLASK' in an arc, and 'JAMES DIXON/& SONS/SHEFFIELD'; two blued iron bullet molds, marked 'COLTS/PATENT' on sprue cutters, '36P.' marked on arm of one mold; two pewter oilers; turned bone container, two L-shaped screwdriver-nipple wrenches; three glass oil bottles; spare parts include hand, six nipples, two trigger and cylinder stop springs, and two mainsprings; 'DIRECTIONS FOR USING COLT'S PISTOLS' paper label, pasted inside lid

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Literature

R.L. Wilson, Colt Engraving (Los Angeles, 1982), endpapers, pp. 50-55, 61, 86, 92, 99, 122-145, 195; frontispiece, title page, nos. 20131 and 23477 illustrated p. 130
----------, The Colt Heritage (New York, 1979), pp. 45, 83, 92-93, 98-99, 108-109, 124-151; nos. 20131 and 23477 illustrated p. 297 ----------, Colt, An American Legend (New York, 1985), pp. 45, 83, 92-93, 98-99, 108-109, 124-151, 318, 332-333, 342-343; nos. 20131 and 23477 illustrated p. 297 ----------, Samuel Colt Presents (Hartford, 1961), pp. xiii-xvii, 256-280; no. 20131 illustrated on dust jacket, nos. 20131 and 23477 illustrated pp. 264, 266
----------, Colt Engraving:III (work in progress); nos. 20131 and 23477 to be illustrated in color
Eliot Elisofon, "Sam Colt's Pistols," Life, (March 2, 1962); Navy pistols illustrated p. 55
R.L. Wilson, "Masterpieces of the Gun Engraver's Art," Guns & Ammo Annual 1971, p. 250; no. 20131 illustrated p. 248 Leonid Tarassuk and R.L. Wilson, The 'Russian' Colts (North Hollywood, 1979)
Expanded three-part article from Arms Gazette, August, September, October 1976; nos. 20131 and 23477 illustrated p. 23, October issue; monograph illustrates nos. 20131 and 23477, p. 8, monograph in process of publication in Finnish translation.

RELATED LITERATURE:

R.E. Hable and R.L. Wilson, Colt Pistols (Dallas, Texas, 1976), pp. 66-69, 108-112 Leonid Tarassuk, Antique European and American Firearms at the Hermitage Museum (Leningrad, 1971), pp. 204-206, pl. V, figs. 476-482, 484-486, 488-490 R.L. Wilson, Ed., Antique Arms Annual (San Antonio, Texas, 1971), pp. 96, 123, 144, 150-151, 197, 229 ----------, The Book of Colt Engraving (Los Angeles, 1974), pp. 40-45, 52, 65, 71, 76, 100-123, 166; frontispiece R.L. Wilson and R.Q. Sutherland, The Book of Colt Firearms (Kansas City, 1970), pp. 570-573, pl. 36 R.L. Wilson, Colt Engraving (Los Angeles, 1982), endpapers, pp. 50-55, 61, 86, 92, 99, 122-145, 195; frontispiece, title page, nos. 20131 and 23477 illustrated p. 130
----------, L.D. Nimschke Firearms Engraver (Teaneck, New Jersey, 1965), xxxix, xxxxiv, pp. 87, 95 Richard Alan Dow and R.L. Wilson, "The Czar's Colts," Nineteenth Century (Winter 1980) R.L. Wilson, "Gold-Inlaid Colt Revolver," Arms Fair '69 Guide, 1969 ----------, "The History of Gun Engraving in America," Guns & Ammo Annual 1972
----------, "Firearms Engraving in Nineteenth Century America," The Bulletin of the American Society of Arms Collectors (Fall, 1973) ----------, "The Youngs: Standouts in the Gun Engraver's Heyday," American Rifleman (May, 1968) ----------, "Enterprising Sam Colt's Profitable Presentations," American Rifleman (July, 1969)

Lot Essay

Of the approximately 1,000,000 percussion Colt firearms produced circa 1836-1873, not more than about thirty are believed to have been factory gold-inlaid. In workmanship, rarity and historical interest, gold-inlaid percussion revolvers form the most important and desirable single group of arms in the study and collecting of Colt firearms.
Judging from the practice of commissioning deluxe gold-inlaid Colt revolvers in pairs, no. 20131 is considered to have been cased together with no. 20133. The latter revolver was subsequently presented by Colonel Colt to Czar Nicholas I, 1854, along with a Colt Third Model Dragoon revolver and a Colt Model 1849 Pocket revolver.
On the removal of no. 20133 from the case, for presentation to Czar Nicholas, no. 23477 was selected as a replacement. Thus the above lot is the only known set of gold-inlaid percussion Colt revolvers in which the embellishment is of two distinct designs and degrees of embellishment, one more deluxe than the other, and both executed by the same artisan.
The mate to the Czar Nicholas I Dragoon revolver was presented to The Sultan of Turkey. The mate to the Czar's Model 1849 Pocket revolver (presumed to be no. 63304) is yet to be discovered.
Attribution of the gold inlaying and engraving to Gustave Young has been made based on various evidence, as presented in the texts The Book of Colt Engraving, Colt Engraving, L.D. Nimschke Firearms Engraver, Colt, An American Legend, all authored by R.L. Wilson.
Certain of the gold-inlaid motifs have as their source gun engravers' pattern books of German origin, two by G. Ernst of Zella (circa 1840). Other sources include W.L. Ormsby's A Description of the Present System of Bank Note Engraving, Showing its Tendency to Facilitate Counterfeiting to Which is Added a New Method of Constructing Bank Notes to Prevent Forgery (New York, 1852). These sources were well known in the gun trade in America, at the period of manufacture of the deluxe Navy revolvers.