Guns International #: 101994546
Seller's Inventory #: AG1152

Category - Colt Revolvers - Single Action Army - 1st Gen - .45 Colt Revolvers

Category
Colt Revolvers - Single Action Army - 1st Gen
.45 Colt Revolvers

Master Engraved Colt Deluxe Single Action Army

Description:
Colt deluxe single action army gold and silver inlaid and elaborately engraved by R.J. Smith and Siegfried Rentzschke, former Smith & Wesson engravers. Profusely inlaid in 24 kt gold and sterling silver. Engraved in intricate and finely detailed foliate designs. Executed in the style of R.J. Kornbrath and other Germanic engravers. The hammer decorated with a special punch motif based on a style of the Ulrich Family. Signed on the ejector rod house “ENG by S. RENTZSCHKE and R.J. SMITH – WESTFIELD” .45 CALIBER, 7 ½” Barrel. Blued, with coin finished hammer, mother of pearl grips. Serial #325591. Featured in the color of the Colt Engraving Book, one of the most elaborately scroll decorated Colt single action army revolvers of the 20th Century. 

Siegfried Rentzschke and R.J. Smith – Master Engravers

For decades, Russ Smith was chief engraver at the Smith & Wesson factory. He was particularly talented at design and lettering. Examples of Smith’s work is in the “The Book of Colt Engraving” page 385 and 553. Rentzschke was a freelance engraver and craftsman who was not interested in publicity or recognition. As a consequence, he rarely signed examples of his work. For both to collaborate on a firearm was unusual. The fact they both signed the gun was even more unusual, particularly that this was a Colt handgun and done outside of their efforts on behalf on Smith & Wesson. 

Colt Single Action Army Revolver 

Of all Colt revolvers none has earned greater fame than the Single Action Army – the Peacemaker – accepted by most connoisseurs as the ne plus ultra of Colt Firearms. In design and performance, in line and form, no more sculptural and practical Colt has ever been created. More photographs, articles, books, collections and other displays have been devoted to the S.A.A. than to any other Colt. The proliferation of Western movies and television shows is a constant reminder of the role this six-shot equalizer played in the winning of the West.

Serial 325591

As two accomplished craftsman-engravers of the 20th Century, Siegfried Rentzschke and R.J. Smith each had special skills and aptitudes. Seldom collaborating, their work on Colt Single Action Army Revolver Serial No. 325591 represents one of the rarities in the annals of arms engraving: two well known craftsmen working together on a single piece. Rentzschke was a master of complex scrolls in the German style. Russ Smith was skilled at gold and silver inlaying and lettering. The result of their collaboration was one of the most distinctive and beautiful scroll decorated Colt Single Action Army revolvers. That these artisans prominently signed their crate adds to the importance.

Details of Engraving and Inlaying Serial 325591

The engravers’ approach was to combine flush gold and silver inlaid scroll and border work with low relief sculpted engraved scrolls and borders – the style influenced by R.J. Kornbrath and other distinguished Germanic craftsmen. Details are as follows: 

Flush gold inlaid scrolls, within foliate scroll engraving on the barrel, cylinder, frame, loading gate, backstrap and trigger guard strap. These scrolls are quite similar to the distinctive style developed and refined by the renowned contemporary Alvin A. White.

Some of the flush inlays are in sterling silver, including: 
-    Oval border to the caliber stamping on the left side of the barrel.
-    Border to the barrel marking (done in low relief design)
-    Waved line motif encircling the cylinder at the breech
-    Border to the both sides of the frame
-    Border to the top strap of the frame
-    Border to the frame at front (beneath cylinder pin)
-    Border in the front decoration of the loading gate
-    Border to the back strap, including at top behind the hammer
-    Border to the butt strap
-    Border to the trigger guard strap, at bottom, and at top at base of trigger guard
-    Border to the trigger guard itself

Detailing of the scroll and border engraving is minute, and in a difficult to executive low, sculpted relief. The coverage is so profuse that on the bare spots are the cylinder flutes, the inside curve of the ejector rod housing, and the top and back of the hammer.

Stamped scroll motif border the hammer. This detail is clearly based on border motifs used particularly by the Ulrich Family of engravers, more specifically the three brothers C.F. Joh, and Herman. The device was also popular at the Colt factory, under Cuno A. Helfricht.  

Finally, each and every screw head is meticulously engraved with shading, as are both ends of the cylinder pin latch.

Markings on Serial No. 325591 Single Action Colt

-    Marking on the left side of the barrel: 45 Colt
-    Marking on top of the barrel: Colt’s PT. F.A. Mfg. Co. Hartford CT U.S.A.
-    Patent dates on the left side of the frame, edged in engraved scrolls: PAT. SEPT. 19, 1871 JULY 2, 72 JAN. 19,75
-    On the left side of the frame is the stamped rampant Colt trademark

Finish and Mother of Pearl Grips

The blue is a rich deep finish, with the polish executed perfectly. The mother of pearl grips were polished to fit 325591 and have a handsome aged patina.

Caption in the Colt Engraving Book

The R.J. Smith and Siegfried Rentzschke Single Action Army is pictured in color, in illustrations with yet another deluxe Single Action, serial 57150SA, prepared by Rene Dewilde of Liege, Belgium, for the late Turner Kirkland.

SOLD

Manufacturer: Colt
Model: Single Action Army
Serial Number: 325591
Barrel Length: 7 1/2