Colt Single Action 44-40 Frontier Six Shooter Antique Made in 1898
Description:
SALE PENDING. Just got word from the Archives! Factory Letter on the way. Shipped to Tampa, FL in 1898!!!! First Generation Colt Single Action Army Revolver. 7 1/2" , 44-40 Frontier Six Shooter, Blued/Case Colored, with Checkered Hard Rubber Grips. Antique Serial Number in the 178,000 range. Made in 1898. We have a Colt Factory Letter coming on this one. It letters 100% correct as a 7 1/2" Blued Single Action in 44-40 that shipped on May 4, 1898 to Knight and Wall Company which was located in Tampa, Florida.
This was right at the beginning of the Spanish American War and Tampa, FL was one of the main Staging Area for US Troops who were to be shipped off on Transports to Cuba. 30,000 Troops left for Cuba through Tampa with many more left behind due to the lack of transports. Tampa changed from a small sleepy Southern Port to a bustling City almost overnight. At the time in 1898, the Civil War had ended 33 years prior but there was some degree of worry as to how thousands of US soldiers would be received by Ex-Confederates traveling through the South. At this time, the 4th of July was still not celebrated below the former Mason Dixon line in 1898. Perhaps this revolver was ordered as a precautionary measure to keep the peace in case trouble broke out. I have seen other Colts that shipped to Tacoma, WA in 1898 that were issued to the Police during the Klondike Gold Rush when hundreds of thousands of prospectors came through that city on their way to the Gold Fields in the Yukon. It's hard to say, but the timing is spot-on for the troops that were being assembled in Tampa the following weeks when this Colt SAA was shipped. The fact that it's not .45 Colt which was a Gov't caliber, but 44-40 makes me think it was intended for Civilian use. BTW, Teddy Roosevelt and the 1st US Cavalry "Rough Riders" went to Cuba via ship from the Port in Tampa. Fortunately, the South welcomed the thousands of US Troops as they headed off for war. This is a small sample of what Roosevelt wrote about his experience through the South and Tampa at that moment in time:
"The journey by rail from San Antonio to Tampa took just four days, and I doubt if anybody who was on the trip will soon forget it."
"Everywhere the people came out to greet us and cheer us. They brought us flowers; they brought us watermelons and other fruits, and sometimes jugs and pails of milk—all of which we greatly appreciated........Everywhere we saw the Stars and Stripes, and everywhere we were told, half-laughing, by grizzled ex-Confederates that they had never dreamed in the bygone days of bitterness to greet the old flag as they now were greeting it, and to send their sons, as now they were sending them, to fight and die under it."
"It was the evening of June 7th when we suddenly received orders that the expedition was to start from Port Tampa, nine miles distant by rail, at daybreak the following morning; and that if we were not aboard our transport by that time we could not go. We had no intention of getting left, and prepared at once for the scramble which was evidently about to take place...... At last, on the evening of June 13th, we received the welcome order to start. Ship after ship weighed anchor and went slowly ahead under half-steam for the distant mouth of the harbor, the bands playing, the flags flying, the rigging black with the clustered soldiers, cheering and shouting to those left behind on the quay and to their fellows on the other ships. The channel was very tortuous; and we anchored before we had gone far down it, after coming within an ace of a bad collision with another transport. The next morning we were all again under way, and in the afternoon the great fleet steamed southeast until Tampa Light sank in the distance." Theodore Roosevelt
NRA Antique Fine Plus Condition Overall with lots of fading case colors remaining on the frame and load of fire blue remaining on the screws. The barrel has some spots but about 80% original blue remaining with 50-60% remaining on the cylinder. Checkered hard rubber grips are numbered to the gun and fit perfectly with no cracks, chips, or repairs. Nice example of an untouched Single Action with a desirable antique serial number.
SOLD
Antique: Yes
Manufacturer:
Colt
Model:
1873 Single Action Army Revolver
Caliber Info:
44-40
Finish:
Blued/Case Colored
Manufacture Date:
1898