Manufactured in 1871 (the first year of production) this is an extremely rare version of the Colt Cloverleaf revolver with the short 1 1/2 inch octagon barrel as well as a near full coverage engraving by Master Engraver L.D. Nimschke. The revolver is photographed in R.L. Wilson's "Colt Engraving" on page 216. It is one of the few known Cloverleaf revolvers engraved by Nimschke. The octagon barrel is found only on the early 1 1/2 inch barreled examples. The engraving features floral scrollwork on a punch dot background, cross hatching, wavy line and dot borders and entwining lines. The engraving is featured on the upper barrel flats, cylinder, frame sides, top strap and back strap. The top barrel flat is marked "COLT." This marking is normally on the left barrel flat, but due to the engraving the marking was moved to the top flat. The cylinder and hammer are plated in gold, and the remaining surfaces are silver plated. Fitted with pearl grips.

Fine. The hammer retains more than half of the original gold plating. The cylinder and barrel have a crisp mottled gray patina with traces of original gold remaining in the protected areas of the cylinder. The frame has a very attractive aged patina mixed with darkened original silver plating in the protected areas. The pearl grips are exceptionally fine with a few minor handling marks and highly attractive color. Mechanically excellent.