This lot is a grouping of three revolvers that once belonged to M. Bertrand Couch. Accompanying this lot is an extensive archive of letters, newspaper clippings, and photographs accumulated by Couch. This archive is a time capsule to a specific time and place in history and provides a direct link to the owner of the three revolvers. Couch often went by the name Frisco Bert. The moniker Frisco Bert was connected to his hobbies and bestowed to him by San Francisco friends in 1931. Couch was an eccentric collector of Western pop culture memorable which included dime novels, sheet music, and photos of radio Western personalities. His collection of dime novels, reportedly 7,000 in all worth about $7,000 at the time, established Couch as one of the country’s foremost collectors. Couch embraced the moniker Frisco Bert and the Western themes he read about in the dime novels. Letters were signed, “Yours ‘til the last redskin bites the dust, Frisco Bert” and personalized stationary included the moniker. Dinner parties were held with invitations referring to his wife as Heroine Grace H. and the dinner selections as road lizards, campfire hooligan and squaw special. An invitation in the Couch archive warned patrons, “Any varmint failing to lick his platter clean will fust off be hoss whupped with a bull whip till his screams drown out the howling of the coyotes in the night.” He befriended the Western outlaw Emmett Dalton, a member of the infamous Dalton Gang and the only member of the gang to survive the shootout in Coffeyville, Kansas. In 1937 Frisco Bert was a guest on the radio show “The Hobbyist” to answer questions regarding his friendship with the outlaw. Letters received from Emmett Dalton and the outlaw’s wife Julia, and papers related to the radio show are included in the archive. His fascination with the West likely inspired him to become a U.S. immigration officer. Tracking illegals and upholding the law along the U.S.-Mexico border would have certainly had an aura of danger found in the dime novels he read. When Couch entered government service as a U.S. Customs Inspector at Laredo, Texas in early 1916, Mexico was experiencing political unrest. Since 1914 Mexico had been in a civil war between the factions of Pancho Villa and Venustiano Carranza with the United States supporting Carranza. Villa attacked the town of Columbus, New Mexico on March 9, 1916. In response to the attack several thousand U.S. soldiers crossed the border and spent over a year searching for Pancho Villa who was never caught. The city of Laredo was a refuge for thousands of displaced Mexican citizens looking for safety and stability after the Mexican Revolution and subsequent political turmoil in Mexico. Today Laredo is the nation's largest inland port of entry. In August 1917 Couch became an Immigrant Inspector in Brownsville, Texas. Today the Port of Brownsville is a major economic hub for South Texas. Couch’s archive includes photographs of the immigration station in Brownsville and a collection of Pancho Villa picture postcards. Couch worked at the famous Sing Sing Prison in New York, circa 1924 and had a mug shot and fingerprint identification card made at his request in case of his untimely death while investigating alien criminals. Couch wanted his body to be identified in case of disfigurement. The identification card is included with the revolvers. He served a year in Stockholm, Sweden as Technical Advisor to the American Counsel General and was then assigned duty in San Francisco in 1931 where he remained until he retired. Couch was a prolific letter writer and saved many of the responses to his own letters from the likes of Richard Nixon, Franklin Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, and Earl Warren. These letters are included in the lot. From the letters Couch appears to be a man who had many opinions and felt that those opinions should be known to the highest and most respected politicians and policymakers of the day. This Colt Single Action revolver was factory engraved, "COUCH" in gold inlaid on the back strap and is one of only a handful of Single Action Army revolvers with factory gold inlay with the engraving. The accompanying factory letter confirms the serial number, caliber, barrel length, nickel finish, factory engraving with "Couch" inlaid in gold on the back strap and that it was shipped as 1 to H&D Folsom Arms Company, New York, New York on December 6, "1904". Note the letter list the date this revolver was shipped as 1904 which was a factory error, it was actually 1924. This revolver and M. Bertrand Couch were featured in an 8 page pictorial write-up in "The Rampant Colt", Spring 1998 (included in this lot) and is pictured in color (3 photos), and the holster on page 568 and briefly described on page 569 of "The Colt Engraving Book" Volume II by R.L. Wilson. Burdick concludes that this revolver was embellished by Colt Master Engraver Wilbur A. Glahn and that “Colt factory gold inlays are believed to grace less than a dozen pre-1940 Colt single actions.” As noted Colt expert and an author to A STUDY OF COLT SINGLE ACTION ARMY REVOLVER, Ron Graham observed in an included letter, “The fact that so many factory original special features were incorporated into the manufacture of this one Single Action revolver cannot be overemphasized. There are a number of spectacular Single Action Armys known to the collecting fraternity that were given prominent characteristics during factory embellishment. Very few will display such a concentration of original special order features as does this sensational Colt Single Action Army revolver, serial numbered 346731.” The revolver is nicely engraved with floral and vine scroll on the sides of the barrel, the frame, including the loading gate cylinder flats, top strap, trigger guard, the butt upper and lower back strap. The back strap is also engraved with a gold filled "COUCH" and the lower left side of the barrel has the signature "M Bertrand Couch". Ron Graham identifies the engraving as a factory “C” style, the most profuse coverage grade of the 1920s. The revolver has the standard two line barrel address, "45 COLT" on the left side and the two line, three patent date marking on the left side of the frame followed by the Rampant Colt. The matching serial number "346731" is marked on the bottom of the frame and on the right side of the front and back straps under the grip panel. The revolver is fitted with factory two-piece ivory grips with a steer head carved in the right panel. The steer has a ruby eye and the medallions are gold U.S. coins, a mid-19th Century gold dollar on the left side, and an early 20th Century gold commemorative McKinley dollar on the right. Graham notes that the steer is unusual for the period. “This carving,” explained Graham, “features a half facing frontal view of the animals head which resulted in the necessity of insetting only one red ruby eye, the left, in this steer head ivory carving.” Most carvings, however, feature a full frontal view which allows for two inset eyes. The ruby eye was likely done by the same artist who inset the coins. Two photographs in this lot show Couch holding this revolver. One of the photographs has Couch posing before his massive collection of dime store novels while proudly displaying this revolver. The revolver is accompanied by a rare period Santa Gertrudes (King Ranch) basket weave ox blood colored loop holster marked "SANTA/GERTRUDES/MAKE" on the front of the loop. According to an included type written description of the revolver authored by Couch, the revolver was a Christmas gift to him from his wife Grace.

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American Bulldog