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LOT 1163
Well-Documented Rare Factory Engraved, Silver and Gold
Plated Colt Officers Model Double Action Target Revolver
Sold and Factory Inscribed to Cowboy Poet E.A. Brininstool
with Rare Documented Factory Double Sided Relief Carved
Ivory Ox Head Grips and Factory Letter - Serial no. 515559, 38 cal., 6 inch round bbl., silver/gold
finish, original ivory grips. This amazing work of Colt artistry was sold and factory inscribed to noted
American cowboy poet Earl Alonzo Brininstool (1870-1957), better known by E. A. Brininstool. Born in
New York, Brininstool spent most of his life in Los Angeles, California. A prolific author of books and articles,
he socialized with some of the period’s most famous western artists such as Will Rogers and Charles Russell. He
specialized in the Indian Wars with the Little Big Horn being one of his favorite subjects. His most famous works were “Trail Dust of
a Maverick” (1914), “Bozeman Trail” (1922), and “Troopers with Custer” (1952). “Trail Dust of a Maverick” was a grouping of poems
and trail stories that immortalized the hardworking, no nonsense, trustworthy image of the cowboy. “Bozeman Trail” covered a wide
range of topics related to the Western frontier and explored Western expansion, daily life, and the people who inhabited it. The work
was a collection of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and tourist guides that gave a glimpse into the reality and myths of the American West. Based
in part on an earlier publication and published a few years before his death in 1957, “Troopers with Custer” covered a lifetime of work on the
Indian Wars and Little Bighorn and includes interviews with survivors. This was his final work on the subject and is considered a classic in
Custer literature.
The factory letter states the revolver was sold directly to E.A. Brininstool (address unknown) and shipped to Hunter, Trader, and Trapper
magazine (address unknown). This was the sole gun in the shipment. The letter also confirms the 6 inch barrel in .38 caliber, silver finish, gold
plated cylinder, grip material, ox head motif on both sides of the grip, factory engraving, and “E.A. Brininstool” inscription on the back strap.
The revolver is featured in R.L. Wilson’s “The Colt Engraving Book, Volume Two” on page 548, where it is cited as a Wilbur Glahn masterpiece,
and is also on page 213 of “The Colt Heritage” by Wilson. Per Wilson, Colt engraved around 180 examples of this model (.32 and .38
calibers), and around 95 revolvers were monogrammed or inscribed (see “The Book of Colt Firearms,” page 355). Wilbur Glahn executed
the majority of Colt’s factory engraving between 1919 and 1950, and the engraving is consistent with published examples of his
work. This revolver features beautiful factory floral scroll engraving along with Glahn’s characteristic “V” patterns as featured on
the left side of the frame, back strap, and butt.