Page 211 - 83-BOOK1

LOT 1265
One-of-a-Kind Documented Special Order Wilbur Glahn Factory Master Engraved, Gold Inlaid, and Silver Plated Colt First Generation Single Action Army Revolver with Factory Letter Identified as Owned by Texas Businessman George M. Anderson - Serial no. 347675, 38-40 cal., 5 1/2 inch round bbl., silver/gold finish, hard rubber grips. Factory engraved Colt Single Action Army revolvers from the First Generation are very rare, and fewer still of these factory engraved revolvers went to Texas. Making this revolver even scarcer are the silver plating, gold inlays, and inscribed initial. The Colt Single Action Army is forever linked with Texas and the American West, and no
state retains as strong of a cowboy heritage
as Texas. The engraving was executed by
Master Engraver Wilbur Glahn, and the
floral scroll engraving is consistent with
other revolvers cut by his hands. He
executed the majority of Colt’s factory
engraving between 1919 and 1950,
but the numbers were limited.
Using the most liberal statistics, only 2,500 First Generation Colt SAAs of the 357,800 manufactured were factory engraved, and many of those were engraved before Glahn was in Hartford, making any surviving Glahn engraved Colt a significant treasure. This revolver comes to Rock Island Auction Company by way of Texas and letters in .38-40 with a 5 1/2 inch barrel, silver finish, rubber grips, factory engraving, and gold inlaid cylinder (extremely rare, very few factory documented gold inlaid Colt SAAs were made). It was sold to Anderson Brothers (address unavailable) and shipped to Shapleigh Hardware Co. of St. Louis on October 2, 1925, as the sole gun of its
type in the shipment in Colt order 10347/1. Included information states that after discussion with Colt experts and the Colt
archives, it was determined that the sold to and shipped to information is reversed and states
that the revolver was ordered and purchased by George Mitchell Anderson (1866-1933)
who moved to Texas in the late 1880s.
Factory Engraved & Gold Inlaid Silver Plated First Generation Colt Single Action
209