Page 188 - 89-FLIPBOOK2

LOT 1205
Historic, Documented, Highly Desirable Factory Engraved Black Powder Colt Etched Panel Frontier Six Shooter Single Action Army Revolver Inscribed to Pioneer Texas Cattleman J.D. Shuford with Factory Letter - Serial no. 117652, 44-40 WCF cal., 4 3/4 inch round bbl., nickel finish, pearl grips. The .44-40 WCF SAA has found a special place in the hearts of Peacemaker collectors. When introduced in 1877, the .44- 40 WCF SAA was intended to be used in conjunction with the another legendary Western icon, the Winchester Model 1873 Rifle, which used the same cartridge. As Colt author David Brown said, “This combination of a rifle and a six shooter using the same cartridge made it possible
for their user to buy only one kind of ammunition, and he could carry ‘fodder’ for both guns in the same cartridge belt.” As a factory engraved example, this Frontier Six Shooter is certainly one of the rarer and more
186 highly sought after SAAs. In the chapter devoted to engraved SAAs in
the seminal work “A Study of the Colt Single Action Army Revolver” the authors lay out statistics that without a doubt make this SAA a true rarity in Colt collecting. Out of the engraved 1st Generations surveyed approximately 15% were chambered in .44 WCF (the vast majority, 65%, where in .45 caliber). The embellishment displays the characteristics
of patterns associated with Colt Master Engraver Cuno Helfricht and
his shop. Helfricht spent his nearly 50 year career exclusively with the Colt firm (1871-1921). During his tenure with Colt, Helfricht saw the transition from percussion to cartridge firearms and a rapidly growing market for engraved firearms. At the height of the firearm engraving fad, Helfricht oversaw a shop of six engravers. By the turn of the century, experts believe that Helfricht did most of the work himself with the help from one to two assistants. Helfricht’s successor’s included famed Colt engravers Wilbur Glahn and William Gough.
The left side of the barrel has the acid etched “COLT FRONTIER SIX SHOOTER” panel. This highly desirable etched barrel panel was officially replaced by the Colt factory in the 120,000 serial number range with the much easier to produce and larger roll-stamping. Five of the other factory engraved SAAs with the Frontier Six Shooter etched panel are nos. 47135, 52438, 56304, 53117, and 127460. No. 47135 was engraved by Eugene Young. Known as the Rosebud SAA, no. 52438 was owned by a U.S. Indian Service superintendent at the Rosebud Indian Agency. Nos. 53117 and 56304 are in private hands. No. 56304 has the additional significance
of being presentation inscribed to one of Billy the Kid’s captors, Frank Stewart. No. 127460 is the finest Helfricht factory engraved nickel and gold plated example known. The top of the barrel is stamped with the two-line Hartford address. The accompanying factory letter states the revolver
was shipped on September 14, 1886 to E.E. Menges & Co. of Kansas City,
Missouri, with a 4 3/4 inch barrel in .44-40 WCF caliber, factory engraving, nickel plating, and wood stocks. This was a single gun shipment. The underside of the barrel has the caliber designation “44” in small font.
The left side of the frame has the standard three date, three-line patent marking. The left side of the trigger guard is stamped “44 CAL.” Matching serial numbers are on the frame, trigger guard and back strap. The grips are pearl and the left panel is inscribed with the name J.D. Shuford.
Before becoming a famed pioneer Texas cattleman, Georgia native Jefferson Davis Shuford (c. 1861-1924) made his way up the Mississippi River and found a job as a grocery clerk in Leon, Kansas, about 180 miles south of Kansas City, MO where this revolver was originally shipped.
At age 25, he left Kansas for Sheridan Lake, Colorado, but by the early 1900s Sheridan Lake had become one of many Colorado ghost towns, despite Shuford’s noble efforts to promote the city. After the economic
fall of Sheridan Lake, he served for the next 34 years as the first and only General Livestock Agent for the Ft. Worth and Denver Railroad and became one of the most well known cattlemen in the United States. He was a member of several livestock associations, including Texas Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and the American National Livestock. By 1908, Shuford had settled in Amarillo, Texas, after selling a large cattle ranch in Texline. Amarillo was and still is a cattle town. In 1893 the city boasted a population “between 500-600 humans and 50,000 head of cattle.” In 2013, there was an estimated 2.5 million head of cattle in Amarillo.