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Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877) of New York was one of the most powerful and wealthy businessmen and a dominating figure in the transportation industry, particularly steamboats and steamships. He was among the elite men involved in the festivities surrounding the Prince of Wales’s visit to New York. The “Commodore” himself was also presented a cased Colt London ‘51 Navy by Samuel Colt that Rock Island Auction Company sold for $109,250 in September
2012 (catalog 56, lot 1195). We can find no documentation indicating that his eldest son, William Henry Vanderbilt (1821-1885), served
as an aide-de-camp during the prince’s visit. He had a contentious relationship with his father
as a boy and young man and ran the family’s farms on Staten Island starting in 1840 and by the 1860s was involved in the family’s increasing interests in railroads and became a key figure in the Vanderbilt railroad empire, including as the vice president of the New York & Harlem Railroad Company in the 1860s. As the eldest son, he inherited control of the Vanderbilt businesses and much of his father’s fortune in 1877 and is believed to have doubled the family fortune to $200 million in less than a decade. H.R. Lehman may have been given the revolver by one of William Henry Vanderbilt’s nine children or many grandchildren before selling the revolver to George W. Pariso in 1936.
CONDITION: Exceptionally fine with crisp engraving and markings, 80% plus bright original high polish blue finish, 85% plus original case colors, 95% original silver plating with attractively aged patina, smooth brown and gray patina on the balance, a series of dings and scratches near the muzzle, and otherwise mostly only minor age and storage related wear. The grip is also exceptionally fine and has crisp raised relief carving, attractive natural patina and grain, minor stress lines at the butt and right side, and slight edge wear. Mechanically excellent. The case and accessories are very fine and have mostly minor age and storage related wear such as contact staining on the lining. Overall, a very beautiful pre-Civil War factory engraved Colt Model 1851 Navy complete
with a very scarce relief carved dragoon grip and accessories. With its published historical association, deluxe factory embellishment, and extraordinary condition, this revolver is among the most desirable Model 1851 Navy revolvers extant!
Provenance: The Vanderbilt Family;
H.R. Lehman; The George W. Pariso Collection; The William M. Locke Collection; Arnold Marcus Chernoff, Ltd.; The Dr. Jon Parker Collection;
Property of a Gentleman.
Estimate: 40,000 - 65,000