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AS PICTURED AND
DESCRIBED IN THE BOOK
THE WILLIAM M. LOCKE
COLLECTION BY SELLERS
LOT 1169
Extraordinary, Rare, and Well Documented Cased Colt
Model 1848 Baby Dragoon Percussion Revolver, Formerly
of the William M. Locke Collection - Serial no. 11421, 31 cal.,
5 inch octagon bbl., blue/casehardened/silver finish, walnut
grips. This outstanding Colt Model 1848 Baby Dragoon revolver
was manufactured in 1849 and is offered out of the prominent
George S. Lewis Jr. collection, with provenance from the
William M. Locke collection, pictured in “The William M. Locke
Collection” book on page 65. Two collectors who only owned
the best, as evidenced by this highly attractive example offered.
Samuel Colt’s “Baby Dragoon” was the beginning of his new and
most popular line of revolvers in the 19th century: the Hartford
factory’s small frame “pocket” revolvers. Only approximately
15,000 Baby Dragoons were manufactured between 1847 and
1850 compared to approximately 350,000 Model 1849 Pocket
revolvers manufactured from 1850 to 1873. These revolvers
were much easier to carry than Colt’s larger revolvers, especially
when you consider that the alternative to the Baby Dragoon
was the Walker and the Dragoon revolvers which were massive.
The 5 inch barrel has a fixed brass cone shaped front sight and
the two-line “-ADDRESS SAML COLT/NEW-YORK CITY-” address
on top. The frame has the tiny “COLTS/PATENT” marking on
the left. The cylinder has the oval cylinder stops, the Texas
Rangers and Comanche fight scene, “COLTS/PATENT/11421” and
a single safety pin. The barrel and cylinder have a high polish
blue finish. The frame and hammer are color casehardened,
and the distinctive squareback trigger guard and grip straps
have a silver plated finish. The one piece grip is highly figured
walnut with a high polish varnish finish. The full matching serial
number is also found on the barrel, frame, trigger guard, and
butt of the back strap, with the matching last three digits of the
serial number marked on the wedge and cylinder pin. A “K” is
marked below the serial number on the trigger guard.