Excellent, early black powder Colt Model 1873 Single Action revolver as manufactured in 1881. This scarce pistol comes with a Colt factory letter dated July 2014 verifying its configuration, and extensive documentation and pictures showing it is from the very famous Mel Torme Colt SAA pistol collection. Mr. Torme was an avid Colt collector who specialized in the Colt SAA models. He collected only the very best and or rarest of these models and at one time had one of the largest and most impressive Colt SAA collection in the United States. The Colt letter verifies this pistol as being shipped in a lot of 60 guns to J.P. Moores Sons in New York, NY, in Jan. 1881 and as being in this configuration with its nickel plated finish. This is a rare finish; in 1881 most SAAs were blued/color casehardened. The 7 1/2 inch barrel is not listed in the Colt letter, however, the footnote in the letter states this was a common occurrence as at the time of shipment of this pistol the 7 1/2 inch barrel was the standard length. The top of the barrel is marked with a single-line block address of: "COLT'S PT. F.A. MFG. Co. HARTFORD CT. U.S.A.", with the underside of the barrel is marked with a "P" and "D.F.C." proofmarks and number (1059) indicating it was a rejected U.S. Government contract barrel inspected by David F. Clark that was used to satisfy a commercial order. The left side of the frame has the correct 'three line-patent date markings. The barrels of these early SAAs pistol did not have the caliber markings on the left side and instead, as in this example, were stamped "45 CAL." on the left upper part of the trigger guard bow. The cylinder is stamped with a single number "3" on the back side. The loading gate is stamped with assembly number "8902". The frame, trigger guard and back strap are marked with the full serial number "74980", and all of the visible serial number match. The revolver is fitted with a one-piece smooth antique grip that show the correct age and wear to match the revolver. It has an unnumbered ejector rod housing and is fitted with the second pattern smaller ejector rod head. As noted it has a nickel finish, with the nitre blued screws from the Colt factory.

Very fine overall with 75% of the original nickel plated finish with light wear and flaking on the front and down the left side of the barrel, face of the ejector housing, edges and high spots on the cylinder and edges of the back strap. The smaller parts and screws all show 90% of the nitre blue finish overall. The antique grips are in very good condition with a lighter cream color on the left side and a darkened brown tone on the right side. The underside of the grip shows the typical circular, minor age cracks. As noted, this very scarce early Colt comes with a factory letter, several pictures of Mr. Torme holding the pistol when he purchased in June 1986, along with letters and billing information from the owner. This scarce pistol remained in his collection until he passed away in June 1999.