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The revolver was featured in the March 1955 Issue 57 of The Texas Gun Collector where it is noted as having been displayed at the Ohio Gun Collectors Association Meeting in Cincinnati on April 2 and 3 of 1955. “The serial number is 35 and you will note this piece has ivory checkered grips with the ‘Lone Star’ in relief and a coiled rattlesnake in the center of the star.” The revolver is likely one of the 73 engraved Hartford-English Dragoons shipped to Joseph C. Grubb & Co. in Philadelphia in September 1861. Some of the engraved Hartford-English Dragoons we have examined have had low serial numbers, but this one is the lowest. Given the revolver’s grip, it would appear this revolver was sold to a Confederate from the “Lone Star State.” In addition to Texas, the states Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Carolina also incorporated a single star. The rattlesnake and “Don’t Tread on Me” from the Gadsden Flag of the American Revolutionary War were adopted by members of the secessionists very early on and then used by some within the Confederacy. Many fighting for the Confederacy saw themselves as continuing the fight for the values of the American Revolution despite the Confederacy being openly formed based on the idea that all men are not created equal (see the Cornerstone Speech and secession documents). Union propagandists also seized on the imagery and incorporated rattlesnakes as symbols for the Confederacy and Confederate leaders and often showed it being defeated by a bald eagle representing the Union. Though we do not know more about the individual who owned this fascinating revolver, it is a very rare example of a revolver from Samuel Colt’s failed London venture that found its way back across the pond where Colt’s “Horse Pistols” were far more popular.
PICTURED & DESCRIBED IN "THE TEXAS GUN COLLECTOR" FROM MARCH 1955
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