This is an excellent example of an extremely rare Colt "Pony" revolver that was manufactured in 1945. This revolver is pictured, identified by serial number and briefly described on page 347 of "The Book of Colt Firearms" by Wilson and Sutherland and was once in Robert Sutherland's collection. The revolver is nearly identical to an Official Police revolver and was considered "Shopworn". It was intended to renew the registration of the "Pony" name for Colt's exclusive use. The Pony name is not on the revolver, however when it was made a green tag marked "Pony" (not included), was attached and the proper governmental papers were filed. The Pony Model was patented on January 22, 1945. This model names marked on Colt firearms are registered and copyrighted by the factory prior to manufacture. This revolver has no barrel markings, has the Rampant Colt on the left side of the frame, the matching serial number is marked on the frame and crane, and the Colt triangle "VP" proof and the number "7" assemblers number on the front and rear, left upper side of the trigger guard respectively. The barrel is fitted with a blade front sight that sloops downward at the rear and has a stippled rear face, and it has the standard square notch rear sight in the top strap. The revolver has an all blue finish , polished hammer sides and checkered trigger, cylinder release and hammer spur. Fitted with checkered walnut grips with silver Colt medallions. The accompanying factory letter verifies the serial number, caliber, barrel length, with finish and grips as "Not Listed", special notation "Tagged Pony" and that it was shipped as 1 to Murta Appleton & Company, 12th & Sanson Streets, Philadelphia, Pa. on January 16, 1945, where it was to have the Pony trademark established. Remarks on the factory letter state "The records also note subject revolver was a shopworn are sold for the purpose of establishing the name of "Pony"." Interesting enough the Colt Pony is a .380 semi-automatic pistol introduced in 1997. The revolver is complete with the original maroon hinged lid box with end label that reads "PONY/Colt's Patent Fire Arms Mfg. Co., Hartford, Conn., U.S.A." and hand written notation "JAN./22/1945". The bottom of the box is marked in pencil "354658/Shopworn/6"-Blue 38/cal/Official Police/(special).

Excellent. The revolver retains 99% original blue finish with some very faint muzzle edge wear, some light spotting on the grip straps, a minor scratch and faint drag line on the cylinder. The grips are also excellent with nearly all of the original varnish remaining showing a few minor dings on the bottoms and sharp checkering. The action is crisp and the revolver appears to have never been fired. The box is good with some separation along the back seam of the lid and a 8 1/2 inch portion of the front lid flap separated, (in the box). The end label is 95% intact and the hand writing on the bottom is clear. An extremely rare, exceptionally fine and possibly unique quality revolver used to establish the name "Pony" for Colt.