Original Dance .44 ???

The profile of the original 17 grip looks thinner and more slender, especially the upper portion of it..

Pure luck .....
My avatar thingy Pietta Dance & Brothers .. I like it even if it is not worth 40 grand .Shoots great . As for an original on Gun Broker ??? better then buying it on ebay Still I would bet money on it being a fake..

PistolPete45 said:

My avatar thingy Pietta Dance & Brothers... I like it even if it is not worth 40 grand. Shoots great.

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I am assuming your Dance revolver is a newer Pietta Dance .44. I am not knocking it, but it is not a historical replica of an original Dance .44.

My avatar shows my Pietta Dance .36 (BH/1996) that was was made as a one-year consignment run per Tony Gajewsky's (Southwest Muzzle Loader Supply: SMLS, Angleton Texas) requirements. It is also not historically correct as it has a squareback trigger guard.

I have written up a thread about the Uberti (1985) and Pietta (1996) Dance revolvers that also addresses variations. If interested, go here:

https://blackpowdersmoke.com/revolvers/index.php/topic,560.0.html

Regards,

Jim

Jim, I did not mean to put you on the spot. I just knew that you had one or two run-ins with a seller or two on GB. For some reason I thought the seller of this "Dance" was one of them.

You didn't put me on the spot! My remark was made in jest. No worries.

Jim

Russell13 said:

some really good info on this type of pistol

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Yes, it is a good video. IMO, all of the Forgotten Weapons videos that concern BP percussion revolvers are good, and Ian McCullough is 99.5% spot on. In this video (starting about 0:20) Ian states that Dance was the only Confederate company manufacturing revolvers in Texas. One can take that as true if the comment was made concerning Texas revolvers made by the Confederate government [after J.H. Dance and Brothers sold their machinery to the Confederate Arsenal in Anderson, Texas (1863-1864), where the brothers continued to produce revolvers for the Confederacy]. On the flip side, other Texas revolver manufacturers were extant but did not have Confederate government contracts [L.E. Tucker & Sons; Tucker, Sherrard, and Company (et al); and George Todd]. Tucker, Sherrard, and Company produced .44 revolvers based upon the Colt Dragoon, while the other two produced a very few .36 revolvers based upon the Colt 1851 Navy.

As an aside, I have always wanted to create a facsimile of a Geo. Todd revolver using a Pietta 1851 Navy as a donor revolver (to start) and swap parts as needed.



A defarbed/antiqued replica



Back to our regularly scheduled program.

Regards,

Jim

There's about three hours left on this one, no bids...

Fake or not I like the way it looks, I need some lessons on how to make one look like that. Not to swindle anyone into thinking its an original, just for my own viewing pleasure.

expat_alaska said:

On the flip side, other Texas revolver manufacturers were extant but did not have Confederate government contracts [L.E. Tucker & Sons; Tucker, Sherrard, and Company (et al); and George Todd]. Tucker, Sherrard, and Company produced .44 revolvers based upon the Colt Dragoon

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I love reading about the confederate copies of the big name revolvers.
I remember a Louis Lamour novel where the main guy originally carries a Shawk and Mclanahan revolver. Talk about scarce. I think they only made 100 or so of those.

Maybe this auction is a simply a way to draw attention to the 11 pages of guns that the seller has for sale.
His seller rating is A+. and in the last 12 months he has 215 positive feedbacks and only 2 negatives.

Arkansas Paul said:

I love reading about the confederate copies of the big name revolvers.
I remember a Louis Lamour novel where the main guy originally carries a Shawk and Mclanahan revolver. Talk about scarce. I think they only made 100 or so of those.

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There are several books written concerning Confederate revolvers, and I believe most are available at used-book sites. These are the ones I have:

Wiggins' Dance book I cited above (post #25).

Confederate Revolvers, William A. Gary (1987)

Civil War Guns, William B. Edwards (1962)

Confederate Handguns, Albaugh, Benet, & Simmons (1963)

Confederate Arms, Albaugh & Simmons (1958)

The Confederate Brass-Framed Colt & Whitney, William A. Albaugh 3rd. (1955) (Griswold & Gunnison and Spiller & Burr)

The Original Confederate Colt, Albaugh and Steuart (1953) [Leech & Rigdon and Rigdon & Ansley, the first chapter explaining the association of Shawk (a Union man) and Rigdon (a Confederate supporter)]





These are books I hope to acquire when my "mad money" fund gets built back up:

Guns Of Texas, Carroll C. Holloway (1951) https://copanobaypress-gallery.com/products/guns-of-texas

Texas Gun Lore, Carrol C. Holloway (1951) https://www.amazon.com/Texas-Gun-Lore-Carroll-Holloway/dp/B002GEKFP8

Guns Of The Civil War, Dennis Adler (2014) https://www.amazon.com/Guns-Civil-W...85832297/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_pdt_img_sims?ie=UTF8

Regards,

Jim

Arkansas Paul said:

Here is an original from Rock Island Auction from back in 2013.
I don't know what it sold for, but the estimated price was $120k - $180k. It does say it is the finest example known.

https://www.rockislandauction.com/d...nfederate-revolvers-percussion-revolver-44-pe

Look how sharp and clear the "17" is where it is supposedly the serial number on the one on Gunbroker. All the finish is completely worn off, but the serial number looks brand new?
Now look at the one in this link that we know is authentic. They're not even close.

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The description left out one very important part: IT'S LOADED, no caps, but FULL cylinders??

Jim Watson said:

Anecdote Alert:
When attending Georgia Tech in the 1960s, one time waster was circulating the gun stores.
One little place had a display of two Walker Colts.
In my Sophomore Expertise, I said:
"Nice pair of Walker reproductions there."
The owner smiled and replied:
"Well, one of them is."

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I do believe one of our gun club members saw those very guns(Walkers) he said it was a while ago in Ga., and the owner said he bought the real one from some construction wlokers that found it wrapped in cloth in an abandoned house they were scavanging and had no idea what they had.

One revolver that rarely comes up for discussion is the Texas-made Sisterdale revolver, only one known to exist of 6-7 made (depending upon the source). The text below states it is a 5-shot revolver, but the photos show clearly that it is a 6-shot.

http://www.littlegun.info/arme americaine/revolver confedere/a revolver confedere sisterdale gb.htm






This next revolver was purported to be a Sisterdale on an auction site but is nowhere near that. I am curious as to who made it (and I don't remember where I found this photo nor any particulars):



I know I am straying from the OP's post, so consider me guilty. That said, I am still staying with Texas-made revolvers. Do I maybe get a bit of a pass?

Regards,

Jim

I carefully looked at the posted photos in the auction. People have posted that “something seems off” about the revolver. I’ll withhold exactly why I think that as well. I personally would just politely say “no thanks” if asked that I had any interest in making a bid.

Sim Carstairs said:

I carefully looked at the posted photos in the auction. People have posted that “something seems off” about the revolver. I’ll withhold exactly why I think that as well.

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OK, I'll venture forth that the most glaring example of it being a fake is that the cylinder stop slots have approaches. Original Dance revolvers (both .44 and .36) never had stop slot approaches.

The link Arkansas Paul posted (#9) is the real deal, with no approaches, the hammer screw head is flush, and the left side of the wedge has a "dip" for the wedge screw.

https://www.rockislandauction.com/d...nfederate-revolvers-percussion-revolver-44-pe

My problem with GB is that there is no requirement of the seller with such "original" guns to even remotely vet their wares. It is no problem for folks like me or you who are somewhat versed about such things, but newer folks who may have some money to "invest" may be taken to the cleaners.

I am reminded of an "original" L.E. Tucker & Sons revolver that went up for auction a few years ago at a small Michigan auction house with no provenance. There are so few of these original revolvers that it would sell for quite a sum. It was clearly (to me) a defarbed/antiqued replica 1851 Navy, yet some sucker won it (plus auction fees) for $2200. I'll bet with just a smidgen of research the guy will be appalled to find out that he bought a fake. One Italian manufacturer (I forget whom) actually produced one many years ago with the L.E. Tucker & Sons logo on top of the barrel lug.

There are also at least two small dealers (unnamed here) who proffer such items online with no provenance. I have a bad habit of contacting people such as this with questions about the veracity of such guns, and have been threatened by both of them with a libel/slander lawsuit if I persisted in this endeavor. So far, I have not been sued: maybe I'm just livin' right or I am holding my tongue in the right side of my mouth.

So as not to hijack this thread further (guilty on all counts) I will start a thread about the Schneider & Glassick. To my knowledge there are only 3 verified specimens extant (2 brass-framed and one iron-framed). One of these revolvers has a provenance insofar as to its location these days that is somewhat confused, but I have come to believe that a friend of mine has come into possession of it.

Sorry to be so wordy. I go off in tangents in my old age.

Regards,

Jim