1st Gen Colt interesting marking

W

weimar_police

Inactive
I picked this up a week or so ago, and I am trying to find out further information, I was pointed in y'alls direction. Barrel states 45 LC, although the trigger guard has 44 on it;

This is a mixmaster, but real Colt Single Action Army, it is in 45 Colt, and has the long artillery 7 inch barrel. It locks up tight, but has no bluing left.

It has several interesting things, the rear strap is marked "Arizona Territory 1895", yet the gun was built in 1907 by the primary serial number on it? However, the other two numbers would place the grip strap portion, well before 1895...
from Wikipedia
The Arizona Territory was an organized territory of the United States that existed between 1863 and 1912, as well as a territory of the Confederate States of America that existed officially from 1861 to 1863, when the Union territory was declared in Washington, D.C. The two territories were overlapping but not identical in boundary. As such, they played a significant role in the western campaign of the American Civil War.
Click to expand...

I think the Arizona Territory engraving is either a real winner or just something that the owner experienced and wanted to show it. I have a call into the Colt Archives to ask questions on the serial numbers.

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Opinions?
 
A "parts" gun? Owner who had another, newer Colt (with the backstrap) that got trashed and he wanted to keep the BS for sentimental reasons? or.........He trashed the back strap on his older gun and this is what he found to fix it with?

From what I hear tell, mix and match Colts weren't all that uncommon....heck, look at all the REAL U.S. 1911s........an all matching is a feat unto itself......
 
The frame was made in 1908. The backstrap was made in 1881 and the trigger guard was made in 1883. Are you sure the barrel is marked .45 LC? No Colt barrel has ever been marked Long Colt because there is no such thing, that's just something people started calling the .45 Colt to distinguish it from the shorter .45 S&W.
 
I actually bought it with a large collection of lugers, this SAA and a 1911 were included. I am keeping a few of the lugers, but the rest will have to go.


ed
 
Nice old Colt and probably has an interesting story behind it. Looks like they did do a fair job in fitting the new triggerguard/backstrap with evidence of them being polished to the frame, with the bottom of the rampant pony a little washed out. The edges aren't rolled over and it doesn't appear to be way overpolished as most of them are. I doubt it's worth a whole lot on the collector market but it appears to be in good shape and being a "smokeless" frame, I'd definitely want to shoot it. It would probably be a good candidate for restoration.
 
On the other hand..........Possibly........once the provenance is known, if ever, of the back strap, there could be a REAL story. I'm sure not too many cow-pokes went around having things like "Arizona Territory 1895" engraved on their guns. It has a commemorative ring to it. It may just have been a "cool" replacement part (or whatever term they had back then for "cool" ...."Bees Knees"???) or it may have been just a part.

Then again, we might never know..........but hey, Weimar, keep us informed. Its these sort of discoveries that help make a man a little more "immortal".
 
Even if the backstrap has some historical significance it's not worth much without the rest of the original gun it belongs to. It would be nice to know tho.
 
yes, I am sure you are absolutely right. The only "lucky" provinance I am hoping for is that the arizona territory was factory engraved (I think that is about a 10% chance).
I don't think getting a colt factory letter for the primary frame number would not hurt and would say (possibly) where it was sent or to whom.


but, I have all along after seeing it beleived that I will be lucky just to have a 45 Colt 7 1/2 barrel 1st Gen :)


Ed
 
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