Guns International #: 103268323
Seller's Inventory #: 250005

Category - Colt Revolvers - Antique - Antique Revolvers - Percussion

Category
Colt Revolvers - Antique
Antique Revolvers - Percussion

ELLIS MERCANTILE SAA COLT .44 Antique SINGLE ACTION ARMY Revolver Made 1884 Hollywood Prophouse est. 1908!

Description:
ELLIS MERCANTILE SAA COLT .44 Antique SINGLE ACTION ARMY Revolver Made 1884

Hollywood Prophouse est. 1908!

Here we present an antique Colt Black Powder Frame Single Action Army Revolver chambered in .44-40 Winchester Center Fire, manufactured in 1884 in Hartford, Connecticut. This one has an “E” stamped into the bottom of the grip frame that indicates that this was once the property of Ellis Mercantile, Hollywood’s oldest prop house, which was in business from 1908 to 2000. The company began as a pawn shop and began renting some of their things to studios, somewhat by chance. According to one story, it all began with a pawned glass eye, which a studio wanted to buy for a film prop, but rather than sell the item the shop decided to rent it out, lest the person who pawned his eye in the first place came back to redeem it. Ellis went on to do this very same thing on a massive scale, so that when they sold their collection in 2001, the number of items was around 1 million. Their collection included many firearms from notable films, for example, a Gatling gun from The Outlaw Josey Wales, and the S&W Schofield belonging to the Schofield Kid in Unforgiven, among many others in their 92-year history.

This piece puts on full display just how well-used these prop guns tended to be. In many cases they became quite banged up and worn slick of finish, so they would have parts replaced or would be refinished to look newer. They were typically property marked and sometimes they traded hands from studio to studio or prophouse to prophouse, resulting in multiple ownership markings. If they were embellished, such as with carvings or other details that were pertinent to the film, those embellishments tended to be exaggerated so as to be noticeable on screen—such as the kill notches on the left grip of this piece. What is so fascinating about these movie guns is that they were around long before there was such a developed collecting fraternity of them, and replicas were not so prevalent, so these guns had a working life during their original period of use, then they went on to be used in film depictions of that time period. Now they are increasingly being collected by people recognizing the history of such guns that would have been used in their favorite shows like Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Davey Crockett, Dances with Wolves, True Grit, used by the likes of John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, William Hart, and so many more!

The overall condition is good. The action does not hold the safety notch and the half-cock notch does now allow the cylinder to revolve freely, but the action does have 4 clicks and holds the full-cock notch and releases with the trigger properly. The bore is mostly bright with strong rifling. Gray patina. The backstrap has some original nickel. The grip is well-used and many uniform notches are dug on the left side. Numbers on the barrel, frame, and cylinder match, while the trigger guard number was partially filed off (but clearly non-matching), and the grip frame number differs. “44” marked on the bottom of the barrel. The letter “E” is stamped on the butt under the serial number and facing the number perpendicularly.

Own the original! This is a legitimate antique and not a reproduction.

Barrel is 7-1/2 inches.

Caliber: .44-40 Winchester Center Fire

Overall condition as seen in photos.

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ancestryguns
$5600
#250005
 

Antique: Yes

Price: $5,600.00
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