shadez1460 Posted July 14, 2020 Share #1 Posted July 14, 2020 Hello everyone, Here is a nice little find. I was hoping maybe someone with more knowledge than myself could help pin point a history or direction on the serial number. Colt doesn’t have this in their records and Kopec isn’t doing authentications right now I believe. All matching gun. That looks to be a Indian capture according some on a colt forum due to the botched “US “ marking. Original barrel length. Ejector assembly is a replacement . Any help would be appreciated . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattS Posted October 7, 2020 Share #2 Posted October 7, 2020 I can't add anything you haven't already been told on the Colt forum except that people trying to pick apart the font of the stamps in order to try and introduce some doubt about its authenticity are foolish. Nice pistol, great trade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacksmith Posted October 7, 2020 Share #3 Posted October 7, 2020 Maybe it’s more complicated than this, but I used Colt’s serial number search. The only SAA with that SN# was made in 1875. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueBookGuy Posted October 7, 2020 Share #4 Posted October 7, 2020 Hello, given the s/n and the 'L' marking your SAA should likely be from a set of 100 revolvers made under a contract extension dated January 6th 1875, all of them inspected by Samuel B. Lewis (thus the 'L' inspection marking). The timeframe is narrowed down by noticing that before Lewis there was inspector Ainsworth as responsible of inspections through the 1874, and immediately after Lewis there was inspector Casey in springtime and early summer 1875. If so (most likely in my opinion) in this case your revolver can only be a Lewis-inspected one, and worth noting - that 100-revolver group was made especially for the state of Iowa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadez1460 Posted October 7, 2020 Author Share #5 Posted October 7, 2020 Thank you that’s the most detailed information I’ve received about this pistol. Could you give me a ball park range on value of this particular gun? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattS Posted October 8, 2020 Share #6 Posted October 8, 2020 13 hours ago, shadez1460 said: Thank you that’s the most detailed information I’ve received about this pistol. Could you give me a ball park range on value of this particular gun? Thanks Definitely an 1875 made SAA, and as our esteemed Italian friend noted, first half of 1875. The Iowa connection is interesting, makes me wonder what state agency used these. I'm not a Colt expert by any means, but after shopping SAAs for the past 2 years, I think that even with the replaced ejector, $5500-6500 would be ballpark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacksmith Posted October 8, 2020 Share #7 Posted October 8, 2020 11 minutes ago, MattS said: Definitely an 1875 made SAA, and as our esteemed Italian friend noted, first half of 1875. The Iowa connection is interesting, makes me wonder what state agency used these. I'm not a Colt expert by any means, but after shopping SAAs for the past 2 years, I think that even with the replaced ejector, $5500-6500 would be ballpark. I am not Italian, but you are most welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattS Posted October 8, 2020 Share #8 Posted October 8, 2020 Just now, Blacksmith said: I am not Italian, but you are most welcome. Sorry, was referring to BlueBookGuy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueBookGuy Posted October 8, 2020 Share #9 Posted October 8, 2020 Too kind MattS, thanx very much. Just wish to add an interesting detail I've made out after paying more attention to the source I based upon - this SAA we are treating here is in fact, from very late 1874. Some precise dates are paramount in stating this. Samuel B. Lewis was assigned by Col. Benton on December 5th, 1874 to inspect a group of 260 martial SAAs and his inspection report was dated December 21st. One revolver numbered #15,117 is known to be within the group and almost all guns are on 15,000 range (or, very early 16,000) so, this sheds light on a precise fact: yes they're regularly called the 1875 revolvers (issued to their recipients after January 1875) but they must have physically been made the previous year - I only can see the matter this way. With Lewis being able to put a complete report by December 21st 1874 and most guns falling into that s/n range, it does mean the whole group is necessarily from very late 1874. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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