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AS PICTURED & DESCRIBED IN "THE GUN REPORT" FROM MAY 1995
Like “B,” other revolvers strongly believed to have been
Colt exhibition pieces in the late 19th century also show
up as “no record” guns (51067 from our December 2019
sale for example). If “B” and others like it did not leave the company’s inventory through normal channels because
they were presented or sold at the Centennial Exhibition or another historic exhibition such as in Paris at the Exposition Universelle in 1878 or one of the annual American Institute Fairs in New York, that would explain why they do not appear in the shipping records. Colt’s letter when they were finally sold/shipped unlike Winchester’s exhibition guns which often have logged dates for multiple shipping and receipt dates in relation to the exhibitions they were displayed
at. We feel strongly that 32889 (gun “B”) was a factory exhibition piece, but regardless of the exact circumstances of its selection for factory engraving, it is certainly among the finest and most attractive early engraved Colt Single Action Army revolvers, is in the same configuration and style as known exhibition revolvers, and is an incredible Colt worthy of a prominent place in an advanced Colt collection alongside its mate, “the first factory engraved Colt Single Action Army recorded by the factory.”
This incredible cased pair is featured on page 32 of the 1971 “Antiques Arms Annual”, on the cover of “The Gun Report Volume 38, Number 2” from July 1992 (copy included),
and the cover of the “Collector Arms Dealers Association Gun Journal” from May 1995 (copy included). Each of the publications indicate the engraving was completed by legendary 19th century Master Engraver Gustave Young. The first two note it was in the collection of well-known collector Jonathan Peck (1912-2002) from Hartford, who built one of the finest 19th century American fine arms collections.
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