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This incredible factory presentation Model 1862 Police is featured in “Colt Presentations from the Factory Ledgers” by Houze on page 66, “Colts History and Heroes” by Hamilton on p. 66, “Colt Engraving” by Wilson on p. 182, “The Colt Engraving Book, Vol. 1” by Wilson on p. 265, and “The Colt Heritage” by Wilson on p. 116. In the publications, it is shown in a different case but appears to have the same flask, mold, and L-shaped combination tool. Greg Lampe noted that the case shown in the photographs was clearly an incorrect case for a revolver with a 5 1/2 inch barrel and that some of the accessories were also for different models, and he substituted a correct case and accessories for a Colt Model 1862 Police with a 4 1/2 inch barrel, and wrote “It is a beautiful historic gun and now is in the proper case with all proper accessories as it was at the time of the presentation.”
A letter from R.L. Wilson to Eric Vaule in 1966 contained within the extensive research and provenance binder compiled by Greg Lampe states that in Journal B on April 30, 1866, lists “354. Presentation a/c 4 1 4 1/2 in Police Pistol Engd
& Appendages Presented to Henry Kellogg Esq Hartford 16. 41” and Wilson
Samuel Kellogg (1788-1862) was a successful merchant in the West Indies
trade. Around 1840, Kellogg worked for Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt on
his steamboats on the Hudson and Connecticut rivers. In 1849, he joined the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company and worked as a clerk and sales agent. In 1854, he chartered the Phoenix Fire Insurance Company and served as their secretary and then president from 1863 until his death in 1891, including when the company was one the thirty-four companies that insured the Colt factory when the fire broke out on February 6, 1864. Greg Lampe wrote in his analysis that “Henry was on the board of insurers and helped the Colt family to get the insurance payments quickly to help with the rebuilding of the east armory that had been totally destroyed. This is undoubtedly the reason he received the beautiful cased Colt 1862 Police Revolver.” The timing of the presentation of this revolver is interesting and certainly fits with this theory. In 1866, the factory had been rebuilt, and by the end of the year, the factory was running at full capacity with new tooling.
The revolver was manufactured in 1866 and features the late percussion vine scroll engraving without backgrounds. This later style is believed to have been engraved by Herman Leslie Ulrich who apprenticed under Herman Bodenstein who served as Colt’s primary engraving contractor until his death by drowning in mid-1865. The left side of the frame features an inscribed “COLTS PATENT” marking in a banner rather than the standard stamped marking. The barrel has a brass cone front sight and the one-line New York address. All of the visible serial numbers match. The factory presentation inscription “Henry Kellogg/With compliments of Colts P.F.A.M.Co” runs down the back strap. The revolver has a high polish blue finish on the barrel and cylinder, vibrant casehardened finish on the frame as well as the loading lever and hammer, a silver plated finish on the grip frame, and a piano varnished deluxe walnut grip. It comes in a factory fitted mahogany case with an Eley Bros. cap tin, Colt’s patent pocket flask, blued L-shaped combination tool, blued ball/bullet mold, lead balls and bullets, and
a key.
identifies as for Henry Kellogg of the Phoenix Fire Insurance Company in Hartford which insured the Colt factory as well as an executive of the Hartford National Bank and Hartford Trust Company which handled the banking affairs of Colt. Wilson wrote, “The precise occasion for the presentation of this pistol is unknown to me, but must have been connected with a business accomplishment of Mr. Kellogg, possibly in recognition of his part as a founder of the National Board of Fire Underwriters, in 1866. There may be some connection with the insurance settlements on the Colt factory fire of 1864. Mr. Kellogg’s positions of influence
in The Phoenix, the Hartford National Bank and the Hartford Trust Company
-all of whom did business with Colt’s- surely also had some bearing on the gift.” The binder also contains numerous copies of documents and sources related to Kellogg and the companies, as well as two very rare original CDVs of the Colt East Armory after the factory fire and small tintype portrait identified as Kellogg.
Henry Kellogg (1820-1891) was born in East Hartford, Connecticut. His father,