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LOT 1208
Exceptional Colt Paterson No. 1 Pocket “Baby Model” Percussion Revolver - Serial no. 342,
28 cal., 2 5/8 inch octagon bbl., blue finish, walnut grips. Samuel Colt’s “Baby Paterson” is one of the
most significant of all American firearms as it was the very first of Colt’s revolving pistols to enter
production. Only around 500 were manufactured c. 1837-1838 per R. L Wilson in “The Paterson Colt
Book,” but the rare and historic No. 1 Pocket Model set the stage for Colt’s subsequent models and can
be seen as essentially the “father” of the Baby Dragoon and as the “grandfather” of the Model 1849
Pocket which was the most widely owned Colt revolver of the 19th century. While the larger “Texas
Paterson,” Colt Walker, and subsequent larger revolvers are famous for their use on the battlefield, they
were too cumbersome for daily carry by a gentleman walking along the streets of America’s growing
cities or to be carried discretely. Thus, these smaller pocket models had a much larger potential
markets. While the company was officially the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company, advertisements
in newspapers such as those run in New York City’s Evening Post in the fall and winter of 1839 were
already headlined “Colt’s Repeating Fire Arms” including “Pistols, from pocket to holster size,” and thus
helped set the stage for Samuel Colt’s later fame and success.
This revolver remains in very high condition and features a German silver blade front sight, “-Patent
Arms M’g Co. Paterson N.J.-Colt’s Pt.” marked on top of the barrel reading from the breech towards the
muzzle, the centaur scene and Colt four horse head logo on both of the cylinders, and a varnished
walnut grip. The matching serial number “342” is marked on the wedge, barrel lug, rear of the cylinder,
left side of the folding trigger, and cylinder turning ring. We have not dismounted the grip.
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