Colt .45

[Clint Westwood]

Hey all,

I was just going through a list of guns that my father has, and I might have one day. I was curious if you guys could help me place a value on a turn of the century Colt .45. I am not looking at it right now, and I don't know if the model # is important. It is definitely turn of century, but this is the thing. My father got the gun from a guy that moved in with his family when he was a kid (around 1960). The guy gave it to my dad for some sort of payment. I believe his name was Bob Caldwell. He had to be in his late 60's ,says my dad. Anyway, this guys brother was a bank robber, and the front sight is filed down, and there are three notches, in the barrel.(they say people he killed for notches, and for a fast draw for the sight). If he was a bank robber, It would have probably been in the '20's or so around Oklahoma area, maybe Colorado, or Texas. I will try to get the guys name for certain, but if the story is true, and I got documentation, what would the gun be worth?

Thanks for the help,
Clint

 

[dfariswheel]

The first factor is actual condition.
The better shape a gun is in, the more valuable.

This changes for guns with a "history". As example, a genuine Wild Bill Hickok gun in poor condition is worth another gun in much better condition.

The key however, is PROVENANCE, or documentation.
This means some kind of hard evidence of the gun's past and who owned it.
The world is full of guns that family stories say were owned by Jessie James, or Billy the Kid.
There are also any number of old guns floating around with notches cut in them.
Real or fake, without documentation, they have no meaning.

Without HARD documentation, those are just that: Stories.
In guns, the old saying "Buy the gun, not the story" holds true.
So, unless you have real documentation that mentions the gun BY SERIAL NUMBER, and directly links it to a famous person, it's just an old gun.

Usually acceptable documentation is court records, law enforcement records, sworn statements that are notarized, photos, etc.

If you can come up with hard documentation, the value would depend on how famous the owner was, and again, the actual condition of the gun.
Obviously a John Westley Hardin gun will be worth more than an old sixgun owned by some little known outlaw who knocked off a bank once.

Due to all the variables, this type of gun needs a real expert to appraise it.
This means the gun, and it's past history, and the alleged owner has to be really investigated before a value could be assigned.

NO ONE over the internet can give you even a ball park idea, because of all these variables.

 

[Clint Westwood]

So I better get the documentation, if there is any, before the trail gets hard to follow. Thnks
clint

 

[Majic]

Not to argue with Dr. D, but the first factor should be is the revolver actually a Colt. SAA have always been expensive relative to the time and you have to question what a young boy would have or what job was done that rated the pay of a SAA.