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At an experimental trial, a spring of steel wire parted at 3000 pulls: 82,000 pulls were necessary to break a precisely similar wire of sterling.” Gamble and Wilson note that only four examples of Colt derringers have been identified: 3635, 3642, 3847, and 6415, and only an estimated 100 are believed to have been manufactured, maybe even considerably less.
It would be interesting to know more about the tests at the Colt factory and whether Colt started them or if the American Sterling Co. initiated the experiments, perhaps specifically for publicity of their metal’s strength. These few known American Sterling Co. Colt “National Arms” Derringers would certainly have been excellent ways to show off the strength of the new alloy to interested customers, especially given that many would not have known how anemic the stubby .41 Short Rimfire cartridges were. Macker, a resident of Boston, received her patent on her “Improvement in Alloys to Imitate Silver” on January 23, 1872. The patent notes “This compound will not tarnish with age or weather” which this now roughly century and a half old
pistol proves, and an alloy like this would have been desirable for making pocket pistols since they are prone to being exposed to heavy use and silver plating would naturally tarnish and flake under such conditions. Unfortunately, none of the details of the genesis of this limited run are known at this time beyond the reference in “The Science Record for 1873” and the vague Colt ledger listing.
The American Sterling Co. of Connecticut (with an office in New York City) was rather short lived. The Glastonbury factory outside of Hartford that they used was previously operated by Curtisville Mfg.
Co. 1854-1865 and was taken over by Thomas J.
Vail c. 1865-1869. These companies manufactured German silver and plated flatware there. American Sterling Co. took over from Vail’s trustee Leavitt Hunt in 1871, and Hunt is listed as the president of the new company. He appears to have been attorney Leavitt Hunt of Vermont, the former colonel of
the 38th N.Y. Infantry during the Civil War who is
remembered for his early photographs
from his tour of the Middle East. His
wife was Katherine Jarvis, daughter of
diplomat and business man William
Jarvis, was of no relation to Elizabeth
Jarvis Colt that we could find. At the
King’s County Industrial Fair in Brooklyn in
1872, the American Sterling Co. received a diploma for their wares. Though they advertised their new metal that was not plated in 1872 and 1873, their later advertisements noted electro silver plated flatware made of their “greatly improved” alloy. A key aspect of this alloy was that it was strong and did not tarnish and also had a better appearance than other plated materials if the silver plating wore off. Interestingly, engraver Jacob Glahn worked
for the firm and the National Arms Co. prior to
the latter being bought out by Colt. Newspaper advertisements indicate the American Sterling Co.’s production at factory at Glastonbury, just outside of Hartford, had ended around late 1877, and additional publications indicate the company and factory was purchased at auction by J.B. Williams and William S. Williams in 1878 and ran as Williams Bros. Co. until 1950. They also used the American Sterling Co. as a brand name.
CONDITION: Exceptionally fine. Wear is limited to some minor handling marks and a few dings in the metal. The hammer and trigger have approximately half of the original casehardened finish, and the other small parts retain essentially all of their original niter blue finish. The barrel markings and scroll engraving are crisp. The grips are very fine with much of the original varnish and scattered light handling marks. Mechanically excellent. This
is an extraordinary example of an extremely rare American Sterling marked Colt Second Model Derringer. This is the ultimate find in the Colt derringer collecting field and one of the hardest of all Colt handguns to acquire!
Provenance: The George F. Gamble Collection.
Estimate: 50,000 - 75,000
According to The Book of Colt Engraved Vol. I by Wilson, only 4 Second Model Colt Deringer pistols have been identified with American Sterling markings.
SIMILAR EXAMPLE PICTURED AND DESCRIBED IN THE BOOK COLT ENGRAVING BY WILSON & PICTURED & DESCRIBED IN A LIFE'S TAPESTRY OF A COLLECTOR: THE GAMBLE COLLECTION BY GAMBLE & WILSON
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