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Colt 1851 Navy Revolver
Guns International #: 101340759 Seller's Inventory #:
Category: Colt Revolvers - Navy - Colt Revolvers - Antique Percussion
Seller's Information
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Seller: Brent Wilburn
Company: Antique Arms, Inc.
Member Since: 11/19/15
First Name: Brent
Last Name: Wilburn
State: Georgia
Zip: 30052
Country: United States
Phone: (678) 471-1432
Phone2: (678) 471-1432
Premium Seller
Number of Active Listings: 42
Total Number of Listings: 580
Seller: Private Seller
Return Policy: 3 day inspection and return policy on used guns.
Payment Types Accepted: Money Order, Certified Check
Description:
Colt 1851 Navy Revolver with lots of original finish. This is one is a late production 4th Model in the 207,900 range that was made in 1869 in the same year as the Transcontinental Railroad was completed. It just turned 150 years old this year and has survived in pretty good shape for its age. You can go to shows and look through dozens of 1851's before you'll find one with this much finish. This Colt Navy looks like it spent a fairly short working life in a holster before it was retired to a drawer or a blanket chest...probably replaced with a cartridge revolver like a Colt Single Action or Conversion which hit the market in the early to mid-1870's. That said, it has loads of original finish but it was carried and used as a working tool for that short period of time...as it has dings, scratches, etc. The frame has 80% bright vivid case colors with about 80% original barrel blue which is that inky blue/black charcoal blue. Even the hammer and the loading lever have most of their original case colors remaining. It has a little bit of silver plating on the brass gripstraps in the protected areas...which was frugally thin plating by the late 1860's and typically all but absent even on unfired specimens. The cylinder has worn to grey from being fired and carried in a holster quite sharp with 90-95% good strong scene of the Naval Engagement. The 1843 Naval Engagement date is still visible on leading edge of the cylinder lip and you can still see the Texas Flag with the Star atop one of the masts of the ships. 3 of the 6 little safety pins on the back of the cyl. lugs are good and intact with the other 3 mashed. There are some small dings in places as well..mostly below the scene. The markings are perfect with a nice barrel address and all matching numbers which includes the barrel, frame, cylinder, arbor pin, trigger guard, backstrap, and grips. Being late production, the loading lever and barrel wedge are original to this gun and were not numbered which is correct for 1869 production. Colt actually stopped numbering these two components near the end of the Civil War around 1864. The hammer has the small rectangle border around the checkering which is also correct and proper for late post war1860's production. The walnut grips have about 70-75% original varnish remaining with fairly decent left and right profiles but the butt was used by some cowboy as a hammer and it has numerous small dents and dings from hammering tacks, some say wanted posters, but my theory is that they were part of a pair of Colt Percussions and each was used to knock in and out each other's barrel wedges when reloading. You see a lot of Civil War era soldiers carrying pairs of Colt Navy's and most of them out in the field didn't carry a small mallet. Probably the most famous Post-War owner of a pair of these Colt's was Wild Bill Hickok. Collectors and dealers usually clean these little dings up to make them their guns look more presentable but we're going to leave this one alone. It's part of the gun's history. There are also some dings around the wedge when it was being reloaded with a few even on the cylinder and upper portion of the barrel. The action is very crisp and the barrel is tight to the frame. Please excuse the picture showing a slight gap between the barrel and frame serial numbers...I was examining the bore and didn't have the wedge fully in tight. For an antique black powder revolver from the 1860's, the bore is Excellent...it is mostly mirror bright with a few areas of frostiness and a handful of very light pits. I've seen 20 year old replicas which were fired one time with bores worse than this. The bore on this revolver is about as nice as you'll find short of a mint unfired example for 2 or 3 times the price we have on this one. Nice example of a Colt Navy Revolver that has a hard to find combination of working use with most of its original finish intact.
SOLD
Antique: Yes
Manufacturer: Colt
Model: 1851 Navy
Caliber Info: .36 Percussion
Barrel Type: Octagon
Action: Single
Finish: Blued/Silver/Case Colored