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LOT 1118
Spectacular Historic Documented
Cuno Helfricht Factory Master
Engraved First Generation Colt
Single Action Army Revolver with
Steer Head Carved Pearl Grips
Ordered from Silver City in the New
Mexico Territory with Factory Letter
and Affidavit from Texas Ranger and
U.S. Marshall Jack Dean Who Carried this
Revolver on Duty - Serial no. 284586, 38-40
WCF cal., 4 3/4 inch round bbl., nickel finish,
pearl grips. The factory letter lists this revolver
in .38-40 with a 4 3/4 inch barrel, nickel finish,
pearl grips “with carved steer head motif,” and
factory engraving and as sold to “E. Cosgrove”
of Silver City, New Mexico Territory, and
shipped to Simmons Hardware Company in
St. Louis, Missouri, on November 24, 1906. The
August 11, 1972, dated affidavit from Texas
Ranger Jack Dean indicates that he used this
revolver while performing his “official duties
as a Texas Ranger” and identifies the revolver
by serial number and configuration. The
revolver has classic factory scroll, floral, and
wavy line engraving from Master Engraver
Cuno A. Helfricht, the head of Colt’s engraving
shop from 1871 to 1921. The engraving is
predominantly flowing scroll patterns with
punched backgrounds, but there are also
prominent floral designs on the recoil shield,
loading gate, and back strap. The right grip is
carved with a raised relief steer head. It also
features a blade front sight, the two-line barrel
address, “38 W.C.F.” in a banner on the left at the
breech, the patent marking in a panel followed
by the encircled Rampant Colt trademark on
the left side of the frame, the triangular “VP”
proof and “T” on the left side of the trigger
guard, assembly number “5936” on the loading
gate, matching partial serial numbers on the
barrel and cylinder, and matching full serial
numbers on the frame, trigger guard, and butt.
In addition, a period “BUCK” (looks like “Buch”)
inscription is on the backstrap. Information on
western lawman Buck Galbraith is included.
He is identified as a jailer, constable, deputy
sheriff, and marshal in the town of Deming just
south of Silver City in the late 19th century and
early 20th century before resigning in 1907.
Eugene R. Cosgrove (1849-1910) of Missouri
was a pioneer in the New Mexico Territory and
worked the Sante Fe Trail after the Civil War.
He operated the E. Cosgrove Hardware Store in
Silver City in the 1890s and early 20th century
and also had a feed operation.
Jack O’Day Dean (b. 1937) is recorded in the
Texas Rangers Hall of Fame, and information on
his career is included along with other items
such as a signed picture of Dean and a Texas
Ranger patch. He began his career as a lawman
in 1960 and became a highway patrolman
for the Texas Department of Public Safety.
He became a Texas Ranger in 1964 and later
became the captain of Company D and worked
as a ranger for 23 years before becoming one
of only six Texas Rangers to be appointed as
a United States Marshal and then served as
a marshal for ten years. Dean’s son Kyle also
became a Texas Ranger. Some of Jack Dean’s
biggest cases as a Ranger involved the hitman
Charles Harrelson, father of the actor Woody
Harrelson, including the highly publicized
murder case of Judge John H. Wood Jr., the first
federal judge murdered in over a century.