^Lot 3278 VERY FINE, ALL MATCHING, COLT SAA ARTILLERY

REVOLVER WITH ACCOMPANYING KOPEC SILVER SEAL LETTER. Cal. 45 Colt. S# 133532. Bbl. 5 1/2" with blade front sight. Matching numbers on frame, cyl, trigger guard & butt. Mfg 1890 with a 7 1/2" bbl. which was later shortened to 5 1/2" during arsenal overhaul as well as replacement of grip & ejector housing. "RAC" sub inspector marks appear on frame, cyl, bbl. & left butt. "K" stamped on trigger guard frame & butt (both below S#). Letter from Kopec indicates this revolver falls between 2 he had previously surveyed 133531 (N.Y. Militia) and 133533 (Cavalry). Excerpt from Kopec's letter reads "The procedures that this revolver had taken vary considerably from those we usually encounter with the Artillery revolvers. After being shipped to the Springfield Armory from Colt's, and packed within a "shipping crate" holding 50 revolvers, this revolver remained unpacked at the armory along with a lot of five other shipping crates, each totaling 300 revolvers. Ten additional brand-new revolvers were also included within this group and remained in storage until 1898. (Eight years after manufacture). Then after all the Cavalry revolvers then in service had been recalled during 1893, and at the outset of the Spanish-American War in 1898, a large lot of over 16,000 of these former Cavalry revolvers were refurbished at the Springfield Armory. At this juncture, all revolvers were dismantled, parts cleaned and barrels shortened to the 5 1/2" length and front sights repositioned. These revolvers were then reassembled without attention being paid to keeping their serial numbers matching. These revolvers were not refinished during this procedure. Now the interesting part: During this huge undertaking at the Springfield Armory, six shipping-crates of brand-new revolvers, plus ten additional new revolvers amounting to 310 examples were presented to the armory workers to be altered into the Artillery configuration. These workers questioned the feasibility of altering these brand-new revolvers. The commanding officer in charge quickly replied; "Cut the barrels". It is the opinion of this writer that our subject revolver #133532 was among these brand-new Cavalry revolvers to receive this order." This indicates, that in the opinion of Colt historian John A. Kopec, this revolver escaped the standard disassembly & cleaning procedure most examples went through during alteration to Artillery configuration with the exception small parts such as the grip & ejector housing being replaced. CONDITION: very fine overall. bbl, cyl & grip frame retain over 80% original 1890 factory applied blue with scratches, high edge wear & scattered freckling.. Small spot of light to moderate pitting on top of bbl. approx 2" from muzzle. Frame & hammer retain 50-60% original case colors; bright in protected areas. Some screw heads show very minor distortion to slots. Very good grip has shrinkage with age with scattered light impressions & small area of loss at heel on left side. Very good bore shows crisp rifling with scattered sports of frosting on lands. Mechanically excellent. A very fine artillery model with seldom seen matching numbered major parts. (01-28735/BH). ANTIQUE. $7,500-12,500.