The Colt Model 1847 Walker revolver was the revolver that relaunched Samuel Colt’s firearms business following the failure of his earlier Patent Arms Manufacturing Company. Only 1,000 of the historic U.S. martial contract Colt-Walker revolvers were manufactured, and, with the exception of a few special pairs sent earlier, this revolver would have been part of the first batch of 220 revolvers manufactured in 1847 and specifically marked for Captain Samuel H. Walker's C Company of the U.S. Mounted Riflemen. On Feb 18, 1847, Captain Walker wrote to Colt and indicated Colt was to number the revolvers by company. This is one of the many unique aspects of the Colt Walker revolvers. Due to Walker's involvement, the first revolvers manufactured were marked for Walker's company. The story of the collaboration between Samuel Colt and Captain Walker is among the most famous stories in American firearms history. In short, Walker had used Colt's "Texas Paterson" revolvers as a Texas Ranger and came to Colt seeking a more durable and more powerful revolver for use by mounted troops in the Mexican-American War. Walker provided insights into various improvements he believed would make the revolvers better suited to military service. The result of their collaboration was an incredibly powerful revolver and an Ordnance Department order for 1,000 revolvers. This modest order resurrected Samuel Colt's firearms business and set him on a path to immense success and wealth. Back in Hartford, Connecticut, at his new factory built after the Mexican-American War, Colt did not forget his friends in Texas. The cylinder scene of the Texas Rangers fighting the Comanche in a running battle used on the Colt Walker continued to be used on the subsequent Colt Dragoon revolvers manufactured between the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War. The Colt-Walkers were manufactured at the Whitneyville Armory since Colt did not have his own factory. The C Company Walkers were shipped to the Vera Cruz Ordnance Depot. While these first Walkers were intended for Walker's company, Colonel John Coffee Hays of the First Regiment, Texas Mounted Volunteers, signed for 214 of the C Company revolvers in October 1847, and the other six C Company revolvers were listed as stolen. Subsequent shipments were issued to the Mounted Riflemen. The last 500 Walker revolvers were delivered to the Ordnance Department in March 1848 after the war was over making the C Company revolvers particularly significant since we know they were issued during the war. The Texas Mounted Volunteers were nicknamed the "The Texas Devils" and used their Walker Colt revolvers in a number of actions against Mexican irregular forces operating between Mexico City and Vera Cruz. After the war ended, most of the surviving Colt Walker revolvers were returned to government arsenals in Texas. Of the 191 turned in by Colonel Hays's men, only 82 are recorded as remaining serviceable, and the revolvers continued to be issued in Texas during in the late 1840s. Many of the Walkers were later shipped to the San Antonio Ordnance Depot and were captured by the Confederacy at the beginning of the Civil War and then issued to Confederate cavalry units. Given these many years of harsh military service, the fact that any of these historic C Company Walkers survive is surprising. This historically significant revolver was among the first 100 manufactured in 1847 as part of the 220 revolvers marked for C Company. The barrel has a German silver blade front sight, no visible address, "US/1847" above the wedge screw on the right, and "C COMPANY No 81" on the left side. "C COM-Y No 81" is marked on the trigger guard between the bow and screw. "81" is visible on the front of the frame, left side of the frame, and bottom of the arbor pin. No number was marked on the loading lever; it is nearly impossible to find Walkers with original loading levers as this example has. No number is evident on the cylinder. A removable "JF/93" (Jim Frisbie Collection Number 93) collection marking is on the trigger guard bow. This revolver was formerly in the collection of Gordon Francis Kibby who was rightly very proud of the revolver and used it in his letterhead as can be seen in the included copy of a letter from Kibby in 1979. The included copy of the January 1971 issue of "The Gun Report" notes that at the Michigan Antique Arms Collectors Association fall gun show, Kibby won the "Best Single Arm" award "for his exceptionally fine 'Walker Colt'". Kibby had also won the first place award in a competition with over a thousand other collectors at the 1961 NRA Michigan Show in Saginaw. He previously indicated he purchased the revolver from a Joe Betty of Kalamazoo, Michigan, for $2,800. Betty was a pilot and said he traded three cartons of cigarettes for the revolver from a local while in Vera Cruz, Mexico, the same place many of the Walkers were turned in and approximately 150 miles due east from where Captain Walker was killed at the Battle of Huamantla. Provenance: The Joe Betty Collection; The Gordon Francis Kibby Collection; The Jim Frisbie Collection; The Charles Marx Collection

Very good with an even brown patina mixed with light pitting on the iron parts, well-worn markings, and mellow to dark patina on the brass trigger guard which has a slight bend. The front sight has been worn and reshaped, and one of the barrel pins sheared off and was long ago rusted in place in the corresponding hole on the barrel. Two of the nipples are replacements, and two more are broken. The nose of the hammer has been reshaped to a point long ago, and there is no difference in patina. There are some tool marks on the arbor pin which has the same wear and pitting in the fouling grooves as the rest of the pin and revolver. The grips are expertly done old replacements and are very compatible with the appearance of the revolver as are the wedge and lever latch. Some screws might be replacements as well, but the major parts are all original. Mechanically fine. This is an incredibly rare opportunity to get your hands on a historically significant C Company Colt Model 1847 Walker revolver.