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LOT 3112
Well-Documented Austin, Texas Shipped Antique Colt Black Powder Single Action Army Revolver Later Used by Hollywood Icon Lee Marvin in the Title Role to
John Ford’s 1962 Western Classic “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” with Factory Letter and Supporting Film Industry Documentation - Serial no. 107347, 45 Long Colt cal., 4 3/4 inch round bbl., blue/casehardened finish, walnut grips. There is no other handgun that exudes the character, grit and style of the American frontier like the Colt Single Action Army Revolver. The revolver found itself almost immediately popular as a sidearm upon its release in the mid-late 1800s, and that popularity continued well into the 20th century among those with a desire for unwaveringly reliable firepower. The Peacemaker, as it was nicknamed, has left an indubitable mark on the American zeitgeist through countless appearances in TV and film Westerns. This SAA has bridged the gap between reality and fantasy of the American West. This is an SAA that has lived a true Texas frontier life in the 1880s and later portrayed the Wild West on
the silver screen.
This SAA was manufactured in 1884 per the Colt website, and certainly shows the character often associated with the “wild west,” having the appearance of a well-used gun in a challenging environment. It is not hard to imagine this SAA in the hand of a wandering cowboy or a Texas gunslinger. Adding credence to this revolver’s potential former life, is the fact that the included factory letter lists it as having shipped to J.C. Petmecky of Austin, Texas, on November 21, 1885. This was a six gun shipment. While the SAA is deeply associated with the American West, perhaps no other state personifies the image of the Wild West more than Texas. Along with the shipment information, the letter indicates the revolver left the Colt factory with a 4 3⁄4 inch barrel in .45 caliber and blue finish along with hard rubber stocks that have since been replaced with walnut. Joseph Carl Petmecky was a major
gun supplier in Austin. When he died in 1926 the shop had continuously operated for 74 years. Born in Germany in 1842, Petmecky arrived in New Braunfels, Texas, at the age of three with his family. By age ten his family migrated to Austin
and he entered into a gun maker apprenticeship under
the teachings of Gil Lambert. The apprenticeship lasted
only 4 years and a young Petmecky took over the Lambert shop. During the Civil War Petmecky temporarily closed
his business to fight for the Confederacy in the Southwest. His shop an Congress Avenue certainly provided the guns that helped tamed the West and numerous Colt SAAs can
be traced through Petmecky’s shop. It was purported that Petmecky made guns for some of Texas’ biggest titans like Sam Houston, Ben McCulloch, Big Foot Wallace, and Sul Ross. When this SAA was shipped to Petmechky’s shop in 1885 the Texas capital had a population at just over 11,000. In 2022, Austin boasted a population of over 974,000 people. In 1885, the American West was in a middle of a series of disputes between farmers and cattleman over land rights that
became known as the Fence Cutting Wars. To protect land holdings from migrating farmers, cattlemen erected barbed wire fence around their tracts of land. Settlers viewed the barbed wire as an act against the open range that would not be tolerated and soon took to fence cutting. To deter the fence cutting armed groups were deployed. Violence naturally followed. In Texas the violence was especially fierce. In 1883,
Texas alone racked up more the 20 million dollars in damage caused by fence cutters. Shootouts between landowners and fence cutters was common.
Fast forward several decades and the revolver found its way to the famed gun provider for the film industry Stembridge Rental Company which was once housed on the Paramount Studio lot in Hollywood, California. Through Stembridge the revolver made several appearances in TV and film westerns including the 1962 critically acclaimed John Ford film “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” starring veteran western actors John Wayne and James Stewart. The film contains
one of the best known lines of dialogue to any Western: “This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” This line was uttered by the town’s newspaper editor after Stewart’s character admits years later that he,
in fact, did not kill Liberty Valance; an attributed act that made Stewart’s character a local hero. The Stembridge Rental Company “S” property marking is stamped on the underside of the frame above the serial number. This SAA’s second
life as a movie gun is well-documented in the provided Stembridge production rental sheets. Dated August 31, 1961 the no. 2024 rental sheet clearly lists this revolver by serial number as one of two SAAs rented for actor Lee Marvin in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.” The rental cost of each revolver was $4.00 per week. In the film Marvin played the villain, Liberty Valance, and carried a single SAA at his right hip with the butt forward, allowing Marvin to draw the gun with a dramatic twist of the hand. The renting of two SAA allowed the studio for a quick replacement if one of the SAAs was damaged during production. These guns would have been used for close ups, daily shoots, and stunt work. The studio also rented two rubber guns for Marvin. These fake guns cost the studio $2.00 a week and were made to match the two real SAAs listed on the rental sheet.
“The Man Who Shoot Liberty Valance” was one of the last great films made by Oscar award winning director John Ford. With a Hollywood career that spanned over 50 years, Ford is arguably one of the most influential directors to come out
of the Golden Age of Hollywood. He made over 140 films from 1917 to 1965 and is renowned for his Westerns like “Stagecoach” (1939), “My Darling Clementine” (1946), “Fort Apache” (1948), “The Searchers” (1956), and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1962), all of which stand as genre defining films. Legendary film stars John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Maureen O’Hara and James Stewart all owe a great amount of gratitude to John Ford for launching their careers. “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” teamed Ford once again with Wayne. The two men had worked together over the previous 20 years. As the villainous Liberty Valance, Lee Marvin played one of his most memorable characters from the film and held his own with screen legends Wayne and Stewart. With a deep voice and premature white hair, Marvin gained stardom as playing the hardboiled tough guy in both film and television. He was top billed in the wildly successful
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