Page 198 - 4096-BOOK2

LOT 1202
Extremely Rare Well-Documented Experimental
Prototype Serial Number 3 Colt Model 1860 Fluted Army
Percussion Revolver with Hinged Loading Lever, Formerly
in the William M. Locke Collection - Serial no. 3, 44 cal.,
8 inch round bbl., blue/casehardened finish, walnut grips.
Rock Island Auction Company is honored to be able to offer
this incredibly rare, spectacular, serial number 3 prototype
Colt Model 1860 Army revolver with fluted cylinder and
hinged loading lever; from a special group of pre-production
prototype Model 1860 Army revolvers known in their own
approximate serial number range 1-10, per page 163 of
“The Book of Colt Firearms” by R.L. Wilson. This prototype
1860 Army is a streamlined improvement on the larger
Colt Dragoon, also in .44 caliber, with lighter weight and
improved balance. This particular revolver was once a part of the legendary William M. Locke collection,
and is featured in the book of his collection, “The William M. Locke Collection” at the top of page 129. The
photograph caption in the book incorrectly mentions the revolver as possibly having been made by the
Metropolitan Arms Company. This very early revolver, serial number 3, is no doubt a genuine Colt product,
and is virtually identical to the serial number 2 prototype Model 1860 Army revolver illustrated on pages 156
and 157 of “The Book of Colt Firearms” (author R.L. Wilson had no problem identifying it as a Colt). Charles
Pate in ‘The Colt Model 1860 Army Revolver” on page 74-79 discusses the “No-Patent” Model 1860 Army
revolvers notes on September 24, 1860, the COO instructed all Ordnance Department officers commanding
arsenals “...No arms nor military supplied whatever which are of a patented invention, shall be purchased,
nor the right of using or applying any patented invention, unless the same shall be authorized by law, and
the appropriation explicitly set forth that it is for such patented invention.” This order prevented Colt from
being able to sell his patented firearms to the government, but a variation of the Model 1860 Army revolver
like this without any designs actively covered by his patents might get around those restrictions. However,
the government did not purchase any more of his revolvers until the outbreak of the Civil War. The known
surviving examples of these “No-Patent” revolvers are noted by Pate as tracing back from the Colt factory
collection or Wadsworth Athenaeum, and “SN ‘3’ Inventory Number 253” was one of those identified from the
1887 inventory of the Colt factory museum collection. Some of the revolvers in the collection were previously
in Samuel Colt’s office.
196