Sullivan Forehand and Henry Wadsworth each married one of Ethan Allen's daughters and were part of E. Allen & Co. until they restructured the business as Forehand & Wadsworth upon Allen's death in 1871. As with Allen's firearms, their guns were high quality weapons as is made clear by this example which is still a solid firearm after nearly a century and a half. These New Model Army revolvers were improved versions of the mid-1870s "Old Model." Less than 1,000 of these rare revolvers were manufactured in the late 1870s to early 1880s making them very hard to find and high condition examples with special features like the grips on this revolver even more desirable. The consignor indicated this revolver came from an individual in Idaho who was not a gun collector. The revolver has a custom tall blade front sight, opened notch rear sight, and the two-digit serial number on the cylinder and toe ahead of the lanyard ring. Provenance: The Gary Burghoff Collection

Excellent with 95% plus original nickel plating remaining, some slight flaking and scattered specks of light pitting, and minor overall wear. The grips are very fine and have attractive natural cream tones, grain, and some thin age cracks. The trigger and hammer engagement is weak but holds, and the revolver is otherwise mechanically fine. These revolver are very hard to find, especially with so much original finish, special grips, and a very low serial number. This revolver will make an excellent addition to any antique American firearms collection.