Manufactured in 1906, with fixed blade front and notch rear sights, the two-line Colt address/patent mark on top of the barrel, the New Service model marking, and "RUSSIAN AND/S & W SPECIAL 44" on the left side of the barrel. Factory rework "star" visible on right rear trigger guard. Fitted with a pair of checkered hard rubber grips with "COLT" logos and "Presented to F. D. Hinkins/By/Col. H.P Sheldon/Jan. 21, 1928" carved into the interior of the right panel. Colonel Harold P. Sheldon (1887-1951) was a Vermont native who served with the 102nd Machine Gun Battalion of the Yankee Division during World War I, being wounded during the Meuse Argonne offensive and rising from the rank of private to captain by the end of the war. After leaving the U.S. Army Reserves in 1921 at the rank of colonel, he subsequently served as a Fish and Game Commissioner in Vermont and then in 1926 became the chief U.S. Game Warden and head of the Department of Biological Survey’s Division of Game and Bird Conservation, while also authoring several books and articles on his interests of the outdoors and firearms.

Very fine as factory refinished, retaining 99% re-applied blue finish with a faint cylinder drag line, softened marking on the frame and barrel, and minor spotting on the hammer. The hard rubber grips are exceptionally fine with well-defined checkering. Mechanically excellent.