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LOT 3107
Historic, Documented “Book” Cased Factory “No. 2” Engraved Colt Model 1849 Pocket Percussion Revolver Listed by Serial Number on Master Engraver Gustave Young’s Billing List from 1854 - Serial no. 90389, 31
cal., 4 inch octagon bbl., blue/casehardened/silver finish, walnut grips. This incredible “book” cased revolver was manufactured in 1854 and is listed on Master Engraver Gustave Young’s invoice dated June 3, 1854, for “Engraved Pistols No. 2.” This list is shown on page 93 of “The Colt Engraving Book Volume One” by R.L. Wilson. “90389” is listed in the “4 inches” column near the bottom. This exceptional revolver is one of the few known and certainly one of the highest condition surviving examples from the “Young lists.” Each of these revolvers are valuable piece of Colt firearms and American arms engraving history and provide insight into the important years of the 1850s when engraving styles at Colt were changing over to the Germanic style brought over to the U.S. by recent immigrants during the wave that followed the failed Revolutions of 1848. Among the engravers that came over and settled in the U.S. at that time, Gustave Young and L.D. Nimschke are certainly the most well-known today. Per research by Herbert Houze in “Colt Factory Engravers of the Nineteenth Century,”Young moved to Hartford sometime after his return to the U.S.
on June 4, 1853. He had previously first come to the New York City with fellow engraver John Marr on September 16, 1852. Marr is credited with encouraging Young to move
to Hartford where Young established himself as a world class firearms engraver. Young is believed to have become Colt’s primary engraving contractor after that position was created in 1855 until he made a return visit to Germany with his family from July 1858 to September 1861. After returning to Hartford during the Civil War, he was employed at Colt as a “pistolmaker” and appears to
have established his own independent engraving shop in Hartford by late 1863 and remained there until late 1869 when he moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, and became the primary engraver for Smith & Wesson. Over his career, he was responsible for many of the
best engraved American firearms of the 19th century, including masterpieces
presented at the World’s Fairs.
Document ed Master Engraver Gustave Young Engraved from 1854 BillingList
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