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LOT 85
Historic Documented Factory Engraved First Generation Colt Single Action Army
Revolver Presentation Inscribed to an Oklahoma Cowboy and
Sheriff with Relief Carved Steer Head Pearl Grips and Holster
- Serial no. 251875, 41 Long Colt cal., 5 1/2 inch round bbl., nickel
finish, pearl grips. Manufactured in 1904, this Colt SAA is featured
in “Colt Engraving Book Vol. 2” on page 560 and “Colt Engraving”
on page 395 where author R.L. Wilson cited the revolver as having
returned to the Colt factory for engraving “approximately late 1934”
and was engraved by Wilbur Glahn. The Colt factory “&” is marked on
the right side of the trigger guard bow. The revolver was presented
to Oklahoma Sheriff Floyd Randolph by Texas oil man and longtime
friend Vernon S. Joiner upon Sheriff Randolph’s election to office. The presentation is
noted by the inscription on the back strap. Randolph was the sheriff of Carter County,
Oklahoma from January 1935 to January 1943. The presentation is explained in a 1978 dated
letter from Randolph’s daughter, Mary Louise Eskew-Hale. Mary sold her father’s gun to
collector/dealer Paul Sorrell. The SAA was later acquired from Sorrell by Brig Pemberton.
Randolph and his family arrived in Ardmore, Indian Territory in 1893. Oklahoma would not
be admitted to the Union until 1907. His father ran a blacksmith shop that burned to the
ground when Randolph was six years old in 1895. Randolph still called Ardmore home when
he opened a small saddle shop in 1948. Early in life Randolph was a hired ranch hand and
horse breaker, receiving a monthly salary as high as $30 for working 16-18 hour days, 6-7 days
a week. In 1907, he joined the Texas Bud Wild West Show out of Fort Worth, Texas, and toured
the country and Mexico.
After a year he joined the famed Miller Brothers 101 Ranch and Wild West Show and worked
under Tom Mix for two years. He went on to work as a ranch hand for J.W. Lynch in Osage. His
first experience in law enforcement came in 1911 when he decided to become a deputy sheriff at
Wichita Falls, but quickly returned to working a ranch. He served in the U.S. Army in World War I.
In 1926, he married a world’s champion trick rider, Florence Hughes. In that year he organized the
first rodeo held in Madison Square Garden in New York. In 1934, he ran for sheriff of Carter County
and won the election. He served as sheriff of eight years. His department was commended by FBI
Director J. Edgar Hoover for the capture of Chicago bank robber Gerald Gulick and received a lot
of media attention for solving several high profile murder cases.
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