Calling Old Colt (and Remington) fans

S

spacecoast

New member
In a recent visit with an elderly relative, I casually mentioned that I have an interest in handguns and wondered if she would like any help figuring out what her late husband (passed away nearly 40 years ago) may have left and what they might be worth, thinking she might have some 30s and 40s era S&W revolvers.

My heart nearly stopped when she opened a drawer and started pulling out these revolvers which her husband had collected in the 1950s. I quickly took some pictures and promised to get back to her. With luck, I plan to acquire one or more of these myself as pieces of Civil War era American history. I'm by no means a Colt expert, but do have a copy of Colt, An American Legend by R.L. Wilson and was able to tentatively identify most of these revolvers.

Questions -

Are the identifications correct?

Would anyone hazard a guess on values? I know it's very tough to discern condition from a single picture, but it was a short visit and these are all I was able to get after my heart palpitations subsided. All of these revolvers seemed to be have not much finish left, but were in good mechanical condition. It does appear from the pictures that some of the screws may be missing or broken off. I don't believe any of them had been converted to a metallic cartridge.

Here goes...

1849 Wells Fargo Model. This looks to be in the roughest shape of the bunch, I see a bit of separation in the frame (maybe due to missing wedge?) and a missing or broken screw, the one that holds in what I believe to be the barrel wedge.
WellsFargo1024x768_zps4a265a07.jpg


1849 Pocket Model
1849pocketmodel1024x768_zps8fba9129.jpg


1860 Army
1860Army1024x768_zps48312f40.jpg


Another 1860 Army. The screw that holds in the barrel wedge appears to be broken off or missing.
1860Army_21024x768_zps3d659479.jpg


1862 Police
1862Police1024x768_zps53e18077.jpg


1858 Remington (thanks SundownRider!)
IMG_12771024x768_zpsa7b66834.jpg
 
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I think your identifications are correct (not too certain on the second one), but I won't hazard a guess on values. They are all in pretty bad condition. The Remington seems to be the best of the bunch, and it's not going to win any prizes.

Are they functional? I repaired a Colt 1849 like the one in your first photo for a friend of a friend a couple of years ago. Condition (externally) appeared to be about the same. Aside from the broken part I replaced, it had some other functional issues and I returned it with a big hang tag on the trigger guard: "UNSAFE TO FIRE"
 
Are they functional?
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I didn't do a function check on each of them (insufficient time and never having had my hands on a BP revolver before), but I did draw the hammer back on one and it seemed to move smoothly and the cylinder turned. I would never dream of shooting these, but assume that they would be functional were any missing or broken parts replaced. The man who collected these was a gunsmith and some of these may have been projects that he never had an opportunity to finish. He passed away at a relatively young age.
 
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A really nice find.

The days of finding pristine 150+ year old guns in drawers etc. are pretty much long gone. Accordingly, any identifiable Colt or Remington has a collectible value. Maybe not to a high end collector but to many who want to fill a spot in their collection and trade up later.

Possibly the most valuable shown is the Wells Fargo since only about 4,000 of this variant of the 49 Pocket Revolver were made.

Do not attempt any type of restoration unless you are or have a qualified expert. Preserve only. More value has been lost to historical firearms due to well meaning laymen and gunsmiths. The last thing a collector wants is a piece with new screws, etc.. There are sources for "original" replacement parts. Unless you want to find out what an original mainspring or hand costs I would resist on doing too much "function testing".
 
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Per the Blue Book of Gun Values, the approx values, for specimens in 10% remaining original/issue condition:

1849 Wells Fargo Model - $1,150


1849 Pocket Model - $500


1860 Army - $1,500


1862 Police - $800 - $1,900, depending on bbl address


"1858 Remington" - That appears to be either (1) a New Model Navy (.36cal), or a (2) New Model Army (.44cal). Whatever, $800 in 10% condition.




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I would agree with PetahW on most of the values, with these comments. On the 1849 pocket, the cylinder looks rougher than the frame. Maybe the frame was refinished some time? If not, and all of the numbers match, $550 could be a tad low. Otherwise, I think that figure is max.

The first one you show is usually called the "Baby Dragoon" and they were not all sold to Wells Fargo. Does yours have a Wells Fargo marking on it? That helps value, of course. Otherwise, it is pretty rough, and it looks like it has a weird screw at the front of the trigger guard strap.
 
The first one you show is usually called the "Baby Dragoon" and they were not all sold to Wells Fargo. Does yours have a Wells Fargo marking on it?
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It does not that I recall, and in fact in some of my research I learned that few if any of them were actually sold to Wells Fargo, although some Wells Fargo agents may have chosen to carry them as a personal firearm. Again, that's just one source, there may be others that corroborate or contradict the version I read.
 
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