1928 Colt Detective Special With RARE WWII Colt Factory Rework Provenance and Ownership History - Wild West Shooter and Later PA State Police

Description:

Further write-up and research can be provided, upon request. High Resolution Photos can be sent via dropbox link. 

Here is an early square-butt Colt Detective Special with an original box from the time period, but it’s also got some great documentation accompanying it with a rather interesting set of ownership chain of history. This gun was shipped to Pittsburgh retailer W.S. Brown Inc in February of 1928.   Going off the documents that accompany the gun, identifying it by serial number, this DS was shipped back to the Colt factory in August of 1944 for repair/rework by a man named Curtis Liston of Uniontown PA. More on him shortly. Some historical context… During the war years, civilian sales of Commercial Colt pistols were largely curtailed to a very limited set of models.  If a buyer wanted a new Detective Special in 1944, and such a gun wasn’t in the display case at your local shop, ordering one as a civilian wasn’t possible (a snub nose Commando might be more possible through Defense Supply Corp if you were a police officer).  Your other option was to scrounge for what you could find. 

This gun has documentation from Colt wherein the owner, Liston, requested repairs be done, which the factory in fact did, including putting on a new barrel, ejector and rachet, new stocks, and a new bolt. While Liston asked for it to be refinished, they sent him note back:

 “Due to existing conditions at our plant, we found it necessary sometime ago to discontinue refinishing work. We regret to advise you, we are unable to comply with your request to re-blue the arm at this time.”

Further provenance for the gun shows that when Liston got the gun back, he turned around and sold it to a man named John Rock of Uniontown PA, wherein Rock paid for the repair costs.  It's likely that second owner John Rock wanted a Detective Special during a time when they couldn’t be bought on the civilian market, so he made a deal to pay for the repairs of a friend’s old 1928 model, and he got the gun he wanted. Curtis Liston’s history confirms that he was a Wild West Show sharpshooter and a protégé of Annie Oakley during a number of seasons in the early 1910s on the Young Buffalo Wild West Show.  He was a sharpshooter of note during his youth, and he presumably bought this gun new in Pittsburgh, not far from where he lived in Uniontown PA.  Liston was gifted a Parker shotgun and a Smith & Wesson by Annie Oakley, which have survived and are in private collections. This is the third gun known to have been owned by Wild West Show sharpshooter Liston.  After the repairs were performed at the Colt factory, Liston sold the gun to John Rock, who went onto have a long career as a Pennsylvania State Police officer.

The following is my subjective view, and it’s entirely up to you to judge condition from the photos provided. Condition shows deliberate signs of use, with considerate wear to the gun's finish, especially to the cylinder. Inside the crane, you can make out the ampersand mark from it’s rework. Considering the gun had new stocks applied in 1944, they display considerable wear from the gun’s second life being worn by PA State Police officer Rock.  The finish to the gun appears original, with the bluing on the original parts and replacement parts showing wear from prolonged use.  It’s a duty used weapon and has condition commensurate from that use.  Barrel condition is pretty decent yet, with well defined lands/grooves. It shows wear from shooting use, but I don’t observe a lot of pitting or corrosion to the bore.  The gun appears to be mechanically functional, though with it being an antique weapon, I do not advise any use and sell it only as a collectible piece of history. The cylinder has a slight bit of play.  The box is in original condition, and it does not have labels on the ends. It may have been the box used to ship it back after rework. 

All In All: It’s an early Detective Special with rare WWII Colt Factory Documentation that ties it to a former Wild West Show sharpshooter who learned under Annie Oakley; this gun is documented as being repaired at Colt during WWII, and then went onto have a second life as a service weapon for a Pennsylvania State Police officer with a long career. 

Price: $3,500.00 (shipped/insured on my dime)
 

Curio/Relic: Yes
Handgun Caliber: .38 Special

Price: $3,500.00