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LOT 3116
Factory Engraved Colt Model 1851 Navy Percussion Revolver Attributed to Wild Bill Hickok and Formerly Displayed with Its Mate at the Cody Firearms Museum - Serial no. 204685, 36 cal., 7 1/2 inch octagon bbl., blue/casehardened/silver finish, antique ivory grips. James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok is arguably the best known Old West gunfighters and one of the West’s most famous folk heroes both in his own day and today. He was famously photographed with a pair of ivory handled Colt 1851 Navy revolvers and a large Bowie knife tucked into his belt c. 1869. The Chicago Tribune on August 25, 1876, in their report on Wild Bill following his murder by Jack McCall on August 2 reported, “His arms were Colt’s ‘Navies,’ and in the rapid and wonderfully accurate use of them it is admitted he had no equal in the West. They were handsome ivory- handled articles, and were always at that time swinging to his belt.” Other newspapers reported similar reports of Hickok’s skill with his pair of Colts, and his elusive Colts are naturally among the most sought-after of all Old West firearms.
This revolver is one of the few existing Colt revolvers attributed to Wild Bill and was displayed together with Colt Model 1851 Navy sn. 204672 at the Cody Firearms Museum. The latter was gifted to the museum by Florence Jenkins and Donald Becker and is identified as one of Wild Bill’s revolvers. The revolvers have matching engraving and antique ivory grips and were both manufactured in 1868. Both revolvers are shown and discussed on pages 30 and 31 in the included copy of “Wild Bill Hickok: Gunfighter” by Joseph G. Rosa in the chapter “Wild Bill’s Guns.” Rosa indicates the current revolver was purchased in 1982 by Dr. H. Sterling Fenn from a dealer in Bloomington, Minnesota, who indicated he had purchased it along with a cut-down rifle from an older gentleman who said he had owned them for many years and got them in South Dakota from a man who was in the area back in 1876 when Wild Bill was killed. The guns had been kept wrapped up in a trunk, and the revolver was still loaded. The only notable difference between this revolver and its mate is the replacement dovetail mounted front sight on the example at Cody. The revolver from Cody per Rosa was identified by Raymond W. Thorp as purchased by William Burroughs after Wild Bill’s death and then passed down in his family who loaned it to the museum. Hickok’s revolvers and personal effects were famously reported to have been auctioned/raffled off to pay for his funeral expenses.
The revolver has the late factory “vine scroll” engraving patterns without punched backgrounds on the barrel, loading lever, frame, and grip straps and also features a dog or wolf head motif on the hammer. The factory
“E” marking designating engraving is marked by the lower serial numbers. The loading lever, wedge, and grips are not numbered, but matching serial numbers are on the barrel, cylinder, arbor pin, frame, trigger guard, and back strap. The grips are two-pieces adhered to a wood space. It has the standard sights and markings.
Hickok actually had several revolvers and pairs of revolvers during his
days in the Old West, including at least two pairs of Colt Model 1851 Navy revolvers. Rosa indicates Wild Bill is recorded as carrying standard Colt ‘51 Navy revolvers c. 1866-1867. Henry Morton Stanley, later a famous explorer in Africa, reported in the Missouri Democrat that Wild Bill was carrying a pair of revolvers with ivory grips by 1867, stating on May 11th: “It is his custom to be always armed with a brace of ivory-handled revolvers, with which weapons he is remarkably dexterous; but when bound on a long and lonely ride across the plains, he goes armed to the teeth.”That same year other newspapers around the country reported similar details adding that they were “silver mounted” (possibly referencing standard silver plated grip straps). For example, The Manhattan Independent on October 26, 1867, reported, “He wore a richly embroidered sash with a pair of ivory hilted and silver mounted pistols stuck in it.”Those revolvers predate the current revolver and its mate based on Colt’s serial number records placing them in 1868, but Wild Bill may have purchased or been given this revolver
and its mate sometime in 1868 or 1869. As with many Wild West characters, Wild Bill’s exploits were heavily exaggerated both by him and his contemporaries. He famously claimed to have killed over a hundred men in his lifetime, but the number known is under ten.
James Butler Hickok, (born on May 27, 1837
and murdered on August 2, 1876) was born in Homer, LaSalle County, Illinois, where his family had a small farm and aided runaway slaves as part of the Underground Railroad. He made himself a legend on the American frontier that has endured for more than a century. He went West during the bloody battles between the free state and pro-slavery factions in “Bleeding Kansas” in 1856, reportedly already handy with a gun, and young Hickok joined the “freesoiler” forces and served as a bodyguard for James H. Lanes. In 1858, he held his first law enforcement position as a constable in Monticello, Kansas.
Hickok also worked for the famous firm of
Russell, Majors & Waddell who operated the
famous Pony Express. Hickok is reported to have
shot a bear that was blocking a road, but his
shot did not fell it; instead the bear charged him.
He is said to have slit the bear’s throat in the
struggle but was nearly killed and spent month’s
recovering from his injuries. The story has a
strong resemblance to the legend of Hugh Glass
from 1823. By the summer of 1861, he resumed
work for Russell, Majors & Waddell at Rock Creek,
Nebraska, but more trouble was coming. On July
12, 1861, the “McCanles Massacre” took place.
David McCanles mocked Hickok’s injuries and
also mockingly dubbed him “Duck Bill.” He had
sold the Pony Express station on credit and had
previously been the station’s manager. According
to a version of the “massacre” reported after
the Civil War, Hickok claimed to have been told
McCanles was part of a Confederate unit that
was after him, and Hickok was soon attacked
by McCanles’ gang. Hickok fired first and shot
McCanles in the chest and then supposedly shot
another five members of the gang, knocked
another out, and then fought three more off
with a knife. As might be assumed, this story
has a fair bit of embellishment. The real story
appears to be that McCanles was not there as a Confederate guerrilla out to get Hickok but instead came to claim payment on the property and had only three other men with him. Wellman, the station master, refused to pay him, and then either he or Hickok fired on McCanles from concealment behind a curtain. Hickok shot another of the men who was then killed
by Mrs. Wellman using a hoe. Another Pony Express employee appears
to have killed another member of McCanles’ party. Hickok’s side in the “massacre” were found not guilty in a one-sided trial on the grounds of self-defense.
During the Civil War, Hickok served the in the Union army as a scout as
well as a spy and sharpshooter, but his next famous shootout occurred following the war on July 21, 1865, in Springfield, Missouri. He shot and killed David Tutt, a known gunfighter, after loosing a game of poker to Tutt. Tutt was reportedly teasing Hickok about a watch Tutt had won off him in
the game. Hickok was again acquitted for the murder. It was this incident that gained national attention and led to the reports of the revolvers he carried. Newspapers reported that Hickok was a legendary gunfighter who claimed to have already killed 100 men. “Wild Bill” also served as a guide for General William Tecumseh Sherman, General Winfield Scott Hancock, and Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer in their respective western tours. Custer, himself a flashy and legendary figure, and Hickok became friends.
Near the end of the decade, Hickok became the sheriff of Hays City, Kansas, and as sheriff he is known to have been involved in several shootouts that ended with his adversaries dead. After Hays City, he moved on to Abilene, Kansas, in 1871 and continued to be involved in shootouts. In one of them, he accidentally killed his own deputy marshal which cost him his job.
Wild Bill Hickok
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