Fall 2023 Premier Firearms & Militaria Auction
November 3rd, 4th, 5th, & 6th, 2023
This auction will feature an outstanding collection of items spanning multiple categories including Modern, Military, Sporting, & Antique firearms & militaria! Below is just a small grouping of select highlights from the massive offering to be featured in this upcoming sale!
CASED ENGRAVED COLT MODEL 1861 NAVY REVOLVER, EX-BOBBY SMITH, SANTA ANNA ATTRIBUTION
01-24001
Regardless if the Santa Anna attribution is correct or not, the accompanying story is interesting & the revolver is original and contemporarily engraved either by Colt or a New York shop, about the time of revolver’s manufacture in 1868. There are three other nearly identical engraved & ivory mounted 1861 navies attributed to Santa Anna.
It is mounted with fine 1-piece checkered & carved Mexican eagle grips. According to consignor, an attributed gun S# 17452 from a Santa Anna descendant was discovered about the same time as this revolver in California with nearly identical engraving and same wear. So, it is now thought that these two guns were made as a pair. That revolver was in the Calvin Patrick collection, but it must have been sold before his death when his collection was sold at Burley auctions in 2017.
This revolver is finely scroll engraved in the Nimschke style, gold and silver plated, later cased in French fitted mahogany casing with original silver plated eagle & panoply of arms powder flask, silver plated 2-cavity mold, sealed pack of “COL COLT’S REVOLVING BELT PISTOL” combustible cartridges, green label cap tin, pewter oiler, and “L” shaped Colt combination tool.
UNATTACHED ACCESSORIES: several copies of correspondence copy concerning provenance including one from Colt Collectors Association historian Don Jones & 4-page letter by Lee A. Silva faxed to John Gangle in 1999 concerning Santa Anna attribution of this revolver.
STATUS: ANTIQUE
