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Phenomenal Documented Forth Worth Sold/New Orleans Shipped Cuno Helfricht Factory Engraved and Pearl Stocked First Generation Colt Single Action Army Revolver with Factory Letter - Serial no. 333530, 38 WCF cal., 4 3/4 inch round bbl., nickel finish, pearl grips. This wonderful work of Colt artistry was manufactured in
1916 with a combination of extremely rare factory documented special order features: engraving and pearl grips. Adding to the revolver’s charm is the fact it was sold to a Texas retailer and shipped to New Orleans. This SAA certainly flashes the wealth of a flamboyant Southerner. As documented by the accompanying factory letter, the revolver was sold to A.H. Anderson Co. of Fort Worth, Texas, and shipped to Stauffer Eshleman & Co. of New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 17, 1916 with a 4 3/4 inch barrel in .45 caliber, nickel finish, factory engraving, and pearl stocks. This was a two gun shipment. The factory letter is in error as the revolver is chambered in .38 WCF. As explained in his included letter retired Colt Custom Shop Manger Al DeJohn examined no. 333530 and found it to be “completely original and in untouched condition” and was of the opinion that “the factory records are in error describing the caliber as .45 instead of .38 WCF.
Since it was a two gun shipment, it’s possible that one of the two guns was a .38 WCF and the wrong caliber was recorded.” Although DeJohn did not know it at the time he wrote the letter, the second revolver in the shipment, no. 333587, is chambered in .45 caliber.
The second gun in the shipment was discovered by our consignor and now resides in a private collection. Other than the chambering, no. 333587 is configured identically to no. 333530 (factory pattern engraving, pearl stocks, nickel finish, and 4 3/4 inch barrel). The clerk made the simple mistake by recording both revolvers in .45 caliber. This is certainly not the first nor the last mistake in the factory records we have come across in our decades of cataloging Colts. DeJohn identified the engraving as done in “the personal hand of [Cuno]
146 Helfricht himself” and the pearl stocks as “definitely original to this
gun” with “deep set medallions [that] are correct for this period of production.” In “A Study of the Colt Single Action Army Revolver” the authors referred to factory pearl grips as “one of the most desirable features” for today’s collectors (164). A high percentage of SAAs
were fitted with hard rubber grips, and, “though apparently readily available,” proclaimed the authors, “[special order grips such as pearl] had a temporary lag in popularity”, thus making these grips a rarity in SAA collecting (151). The Rampant Colt medallion pearl grips first appeared in 1912. Using the most liberal statistics only 2,500 first generation Colt SAAs of the 357,800 manufactured were factory
engraved. It is safe to say that no other engraver knew the lines of the 19th century’s most iconic firearm, the Colt 1873 Single Action Army, better than Helfricht. During his tenure with Colt, Helfricht saw the transition from percussion to cartridge firearms and a rapidly growing market for engraved firearms. At the height of the firearm engraving fad, Helfricht oversaw a shop of six engravers. By the turn of the century, experts believe that Helfricht did most of the work himself with the help from one to two assistants. Helfricht’s successor’s included famed Colt engravers Wilbur Glahn and William Gough.