You're holding history in the palm of your hand.
I had an all-matching, 1876 vintage SAA .45 lettered last year, and it was $100 if I remember correctly. It has no finish, light pitting, and no known historical significance, so I still shoot it every now and then. It's an interesting experience to touch off those booming BP rounds and to think that when it left the factory, Custer's fiasco and Wild Bill's death were still big news. Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday were young men in their twenties, and the shootout at the OK corral was still five years in the future. Mountain man Jim Bridger wouldn't die til 1881. Buffalo Bill Cody was only 30 years old.
I also have an 1849 Colt percussion .31 SA in relic condition that was dug up by my grandfather while plowing a field here back in the 30's or early 40's. It is complete, except for the wooden grips which disintegrated long ago, all matching, and still has 5 of its 6 chambers loaded. One side is moderately pitted and the other is fairly smooth, so it must have laid undisturbed on the surface for many decades. Faintly scratched into the butt is: C. Smith April 29, 1861. Who knows what it means, when he lost it, or how, but that date predates one of the biggest gold strikes in history by the "Four Georgians" at Last Chance Gulch here in 1864. There were no permanent civilian settlements here at the time, and only a handful of white men anywhere in the entire northwest in 1861, which makes it rather intriguing. Fort Benton was built in 1846, and was in existence a hundred+ miles to the north. Fort Harrison, a tiny fur-trading post at the time, was built here in 1847. Fort Peck, ~300 miles NE, was build in 1867. Fort Missoula, a hundred+ miles to the west, wasn't built til 1877. The population of Seattle, a tiny cow town then, was under 300. I've never had it lettered, because the relic condition of the gun just doesn't make it worth the $250. (I think that was the quote for older percussion SA's...?) Who C. Smith was, and how he came to lose his prized Colt pocket revolver in the foothills of the Rockies will probably remain a mystery for the rest of time.
