Colt Cylinder Engraving & Texas Naval History

[arcticap]

I'm reposting this link to an in-depth article titled "The Naval Engagement Scene on Colt Revolvers".

It tells you everything about it and once finished, you'll be set for life!


http://users.rcn.com/bobrecht/tobias/PDFs/Naval_Scene.pdf

 

[hooey]

What about the Colt Walker cylinder?

That was a great detailed version of the navy cylinder scene, is there a similar version for the Colt Walker cylinder scene?

 

[arcticap]

This includes some details regarding the Walker's engraving:

http://morro-bay.com/morsels/manny-silva/colts-paterson-walker-revolvers/index.htm

I also found this about the Colt cylinder engravings:

Master engraver Waterman Lilly Ormsby and Sam Colt met in Samuel Hall’s New York gun store in January 1836. They formed a business association so strong that every cylinder scene to ever grace a percussion Colt was roll engraved by Ormsby. The Paterson cylinder scene depicted a centaur killing two horsemen, and the Walker and Dragoon pictured Jack Hays’ big fight. The Baby Dragoon showed a cropped version of the Ranger-Comanche battle until sometime in 1850. Then it was replaced by the engraving that would be rolled onto every ’49 Pocket: a stagecoach passenger using a Colt revolver to drive off outlaws. This was a scene Ormsby had recently experienced, and a common enough threat that stage companies’ handbills advised prospective passengers to bring a Colt revolver with them.(11)

http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/15/pages/Colt_1849.htm

This describes who Jack Hays was:

http://members.tripod.com/~jack0204/gen/Heskew/jack_c_hays.htm


And these are the fine details about Jack Hays & the Rangers fighting off the indians on the Pedernales:

http://www.forttours.com/pages/jhays.asp#PEDERNALES

 

[Grey Wolf]

The first source is a bit off. The Patersons known as Pocket and Baby Models in calibers .28.31 and .34 had the centaur scene. The Belt Models had the stagecoach robbery scene. This is according to R. L. Wilson's 600 page book on Colt Firearns. There was even confusion at Colt about what the Models were called. The attachment shows a Colt advertising piece that predates the 1860 Army Model that shows the stagecoach scene on a "Pocket Pistol".

In the battle descriptions you will notice Gillespie's name. He was a boyhood friend of Samuel Walker. They were both Texas Rangers who joined the US Mounted Rifles. They were killed in separate battles in Mexico but are rejoined in death. They were reburied close together at a cemetery in San Antonio. I have paid my respects to them there



a couple of times.

 

[Grey Wolf]

Articap, I should have written that the second reference is a bit off.

About your previous reply. Many years ago there was an auction house in Houston that had a monthly auction of estate items and consigned items of all kinds. Halfway through that auction there was an auction of Texana. Most of the buyers didn't care about history, they just wanted a cheap rug or piece of china. So prices were really low. One day I bought a Republic of Texas Pay Warrant. It is in the amount of $192 and on the lines stating what the payment is this, for "pay and expenses of Court Martial for E.W. Moore & others" for "attendance on his court martial". It is endorsed on the back by Moore. It's the best piece in my little collection of Texana.

 

[B00SS]

Arcticap, I thank you for sharing. A recent artilcle in my Guns & Ammo magazine tried to credit the Yucatans as having owned those Texas ships. I am glad you cleared that up. It was an article about the Pietta 1860 that got met interested in the revolvers. I have since purchased one and am glad to have the historic reference of the cylinder engraving put to rest.

 

[scrat]

so cool thanks for the links guys this makes for some very good reading

 

[J.T. Gerrity]

One thing to note is that Colt added these scenes to the guns in order to foil counterfeiters; only an authentic Colt would have the engraving.