The factory letter lists this revolver in .45 caliber with a 7 1/2 inch barrel, nickel finish, and rubber grips when it was one of a pair shipped to Professor Charles E. Norton in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on August 26, 1881. The letter also notes a duplicate listing for this number in .44 caliber but otherwise the same configuration as shipped to Hartley & Graham in New York on August 31, 1881. The revolver features a blade front sight, top strap groove and notch rear sight, the one-line address on top of the barrel, "45 CAL" on the left side of the trigger guard, the serial number on the toe ahead of the lanyard ring, "50" on the loading gate, "26" on the left side at the heel, and "E 225" inside the grips. The revolver comes with a very attractively tooled, brown leather, single loop holster. Professor Charles Eliot Norton (1827-1908) of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was among the most cultured and intellectually significant men in America in the second half of the 19th century. After graduating from Harvard in 1846, Norton initially had a career in international trade and toured India and Europe before turning his attention to the arts and literature by 1851. He became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1860. He translated both Dante's "The New Life" and "The Divine Comedy," served as the secretary of the Loyal Publication Society during the Civil War and also edited the North American Review in 1864-1868. He became the first fine arts professor at Harvard from the mid-1870s until retiring in 1898. The university's president, Charles William Eliot, was his cousin. He was also the first president of the Archaeological Institute of America from 1879 to 1890. He also formed the Dante Society with his friends Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and James Russell Lowell and was also a founder of The Society of Arts & Crafts of Boston and the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. The purchase of a pair of Colt Model 1878 Double Action Revolvers in .45 Colt is certainly interesting for an elder literary man though firearms were far from unusual possessions for upper class gentlemen in the 19th century. Given he was a very well-traveled man, he may have purchased them for personal protection.

Fine with 75% of the original nickel plating which has a frosted appearance overall, dark brown patina on the flaked areas which are concentrated on the forward half of the cylinder, and minor scratches and marks. The grips are very good and have attractive aged coloration, moderate handling wear, and rub wear from the lanyard ring. The action functions fine in double action only. The holster is fine and has distinct designs and mild wear mainly at the top.