"The people that had built the guns for Colt worked for
me," explains Imperato. "I brought gunsmiths over from
Italy, Germany, England, and Czechoslovakia, and put
them up in apartments in New Jersey near Iver Johnson. I
started with around 20 men and ended thinning the ranks
down to 12 highly skilled craftsmen who were earning
$39,000 a year by the end of production. That was a good
income in the early 1980s. They set up hand assembly in
a production manner, working in teams. It was incredible.
Afterward, a couple of them went back to Italy and set up
factories of their own. I was happy with what we did. We
had a couple of really good years and I think we made a
contribution to the history of Colt."
Without Imperato's craftsmen, Iver Johnson was
unable to build the guns. And after one failed attempt to
have them produced in Italy by Armi San Marco (which
had been instrumental in the development of the first
Walker reproductions), they gave up on the idea.
However, Iver Johnson did send their remaining
2nd Generation parts to Armi San Marco, which
produced a brief run of black powder models bearing
Colt markings and the New York barrel
address. Since they were not authorized by Colt,
nor packaged in the 2nd Generation Colt black
box, they are not regarded as authentic Colt pistols.
Additionally, the counterfeit versions produced
by Armi San Marco exhibited a quality of fit
and finish that was inferior to that of true Colt
2nd Generation percussion models – a peculiar footnote
to the end of the 2nd Generation.
THE COLT CUSSTOM SHOP
While Imperato was turning out black powder Colts
by the thousands, a handful were being diverted to the
Colt Custom Shop for use in a limited series of factory
engraved editions; the guns that would become the most
rare and valuable of the 2nd Generation.
Recalls Lou Imperato, "We would ship the guns to
the custom shop in the white and they would be completed
by factory engravers, or on occasion, sent to
American Master Engravers, Inc., (including A.A.
White, John Adams, Sr., Andrew Bourbon, and Denise
Therion), or one of the other leading artisans of the day
like Howard Dove."
Within the Colt custom shop series of engraved 2nd
Generation Colt percussion pistols, there are a number of
variations, some produced in sets from 20 to 50, but most
limited to 10, and a few to single examples.
https://www.bluebookinc.com/Info/PDF/POWDER/MBPHistoryOfColtBlack.pdf