The Autry Museum of the American West known simply as The Autry is located in Los Angeles, California, and was founded in 1988 by legendary cowboy actor and businessman Gene Autry (1907-1998). Today, The Autry boasts a diverse collection of more than 600,000 artifacts related to the American West and opens its doors to 150,000- 200,000 annual visitors. Offered here is the first in a series of ten highly embellished revolvers commissioned by The Autry for its annual fundraising auction and dinner gala. For the 1991 gala held on November 18th, it was decided to commission and auction off a custom Colt Single Action Army revolver to commemorate the opening of the museum. Not to mention that the SAA, the peacemaker of the Western frontier, perfectly symbolized Gene Autry's cowboy stardom. This revolver proved to be a great success, and other gala revolvers by Alvin White and later in a joint effort between White and Andrew Bourdon followed, but the complexity and cost to building such highly embellished works of art resulted in the replacement of the revolver with other auction items. This inaugural gala revolver masterpiece is signed by its creator, Alvin White, on the right side of the grip frame: "A.A.W." Most of the surfaces feature fine 19th century style engraved scrollwork on a punch dot background accented with gold inlaid bands on the barrel, ejector housing and cylinder and gold inlaid scrolls and borders on the hammer, frame and grip straps. The barrel has the Colt factory markings in gold with the addition of "Annual Gala/Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum" (the original name of The Autry) in gold on the right side towards the muzzle and a relief depiction of The Autry in gold on the left side ahead of the model/caliber marking. The front sight is engraved and is tipped in gold. The custom, partially fluted cylinder has the museum logo in silver relief against an oval gold background and the 10 gallon stetson hat of Gene Autry in relief gold, each positioned between two chambers. The frame has the Colt patent dates in gold on the left side. The underside of the frame has a relief gold "1" signifying the first Autry Museum Gala revolver over the flush Colt factory serial number in gold. The recoil shield features a gold inlaid gala eagle logo with engraved arch border and terrain. The hammer also features special faceting and checkering on the spur. The trigger guard has an engraved patriotic motif of an American shield. Fitted with pearl grips. Included with the revolver are two letters by renowned Colt historian and Autry Museum board member R.L. Wilson describing the revolver's history and ornamentation in great detail and a Colt factory letter stating that the revolver was originally shipped on January 23, 1979, to Outdoor Sports Headquarters Inc. Note that the revolver was property of The Autry at the time the revolver was shipped to Alvin White for engraving. The Autry had acquired a collection of about 500 SAAs from the Frontier Museum in Temecula, California, and this collection was the source for the gala revolvers. The revolver is pictured in Wilson's "The Colt Engraving Book, Vol. 2" on page 669 along with the other gala series of revolvers. Wilson's two volume set is also included. The deluxe leather case was created by Harvard University's longtime bookbinder, Arno Werner. The exterior of the lid has embossed gold borders and special gala label (see image).

Near mint as master embellished showing the slightest handing marks. The case has some very scattered minor handling/storage marks. A one-of-a-kind inaugural Autry Museum Gala SAA embellished by famed Master Engraver Alvin White that is a must have for the serious Colt collector! A true work of firearm art that will add value to even the most advance SAA collections and will be the envy of the collector fraternity!