Historic Colt pistol sells for $920,000 in Maine

[Titanvk56]

Did you guys see this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27102161/?GT1=43001


Would love to get a look at this one.

 

[oneshooter]

1840? Might be a Walker.

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

 

[PRM]

Walker

On the "Hey Scrat" thread there is a link to a picture of it. It is in nice shape and would definitely be the center piece for an aggressive Colt collection. Too far out of my range. I doubt if I will ever know, but if I could afford something like that, I would like to think I would still buy something I could shoot and enjoy. Leave those museum pieces to someone else. I reckon its all relative - I saw on the news a while back where an entertainer was showing off a 5 million dollar wedding ring. I guess there are some folks that would shoot that Walker like the rest of us do our reproductions.

 

[4v50 Gary]

$920k is more than my humble home.

 

[Afy]

So which one of you sold your Walker?

 

[Calibre44]

Nice ‘nest-egg’ to see out the credit crunch with!

 

[MICHAEL T]

Earlier in week They reported it went for 800,000 Guess that was after the selling fees .

 

[scrat]

i dont think mine would ever sell for that

 

[Harve Curry]

AP, updated 11:27 a.m. MT, Thurs., Oct. 9, 2008
FAIRFIELD, Maine - The sale price of a historic Colt Walker pistol has broken a record for all guns made by the company, an auctioneer in Maine said.

An anonymous bidder paid $920,000 on Tuesday for the .44-caliber revolver, said officials from the James D. Julia auction house. It was made for U.S. marshals in the 1840s and its previous owner said he never fired it.

The price included a buyer's fee of $120,000 charged by the auctioneer.


Julia was also the auctioneer for the previous Colt record of $480,000.

The gun was an heirloom passed down from John McBride's great-great-uncle. The 80-year-old from Montana said some of the money will be used to buy land in that state.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Is there someting I'm missing here? All Colt Walkers were made for the US 1st, 2nd & 3rd Dragoons also known as Texas Mounted Rifles and issued in pairs mounted to their saddles.
So where does anyone get U.S. Marshalls? It was the Mexican War that put Colt back in the arms business.

 

[Old Fuff]

It's my understanding that the revolver was issued to a private during the Mexican war, and was obtained by John McBride's great-great-uncle at a later time. The uncle may or may not have been a U.S. Marshal, but if so I would think that he might have carried a more modern revolver.

 

[Dienekes]

For the media on a gun-related issue, that's closer than usual. A couple of minutes research or a phone call would have put them on track, but why expend any extra effort?

I wonder how many people out there with second-hand Ubertis now think they just won the lottery?

Sure was a nice gun, though. Probably belongs in the Smithsonian where all the people could see it.

 

[scrat]

no pics though

 

[arcticap]

This is a picture of the gun from the Julia Auctions
website that THR moderator Brian Williams posted
on another Walker auction thread in Handgun/Revolvers:

The other THR thread:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=398502&highlight=maine

Link to Julia Auctions:

http://www.juliaauctions.com/firearms.asp

 

[Tallship]

That folks, is the most pristine Walker known to exist. Not only does it have the provenance, but it had been highly secluded until this time, only being shown a couple of times in the past twenty years. Also shows that the cylinder was shipped in the white.

 

[J.T. Gerrity]

What is remarkable is the condition of the "in-the-white" steel cylinder after 161 years. Doesn't appear to be a lick of rust on it; in fact, there appears to be more rust in the "protected" blued areas. Too bad they didn't show the left side of the pistol where all of the markings are; would have loved to see their placement, etc. (colts really should be displayed with the left side showing, in my opinion). This is really an amazing time capsule.