1847 Walker Colt!!!!!

[fespar]

Hello, I just joined because I believe that I've found an original 1847 Walker Colt!
Where can I have it authenticated?It has "Address Saml Colt New-York" on top of barrel near cylinder,"1847"stamped on the side and the wooden grip is rounded at the top rather than squared off as on the Navy .36 cal.
Also, the loader is round and pointed,barrel is octagonal and round. Barrel is rifled.It's complete and works!
However,it has pittings on all surfaces as would be consistent with its age.Help!!

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[RockKrawler]

Your best bet is to write Colt,pay the fee they want,then they will do a check of their historical records.
I have done this once in the past,think it was $150.00 back then,but was well worth it in the end.
In order to authenicate the origianality should you decide to sell it, you would need this since fakes are common.
The price that these command make having the letter a must to any prospective buyer.
RK

 

[fespar]

I saw it at an Internet auction here.Before I could move, it was sold,for $3000.00!I'm trying to contact the seller in order to find the buyer.It's a longshot but still.

 

[Member 5605]

Nice.
I'm sure you know this but don't clean it.

That's an awesome piece of history.

 

[tac]

Sir - not wishing to rain on your parade, but an original Colt Walker, even in the condition you show would usually fetch around fifty times what was paid on ebay for this one. And nobody would have bought it without its authentication letter from Colt. Without that, you can be pretty certain that it is not a genuine item. As one of the other posters notes, fakes of Walkers abound. What you have described is a bunch of generalities that can be ascribed to ANY replica. ALL such guns show the markings and delineations that you describe, even my second-series Colt Walker #1816.

Right there in Texas you have the Metzger collection which includes a genuine Walker and a selection of Pattersons. You might make contact with Mr Clyde Howard, of Nacogdoches, who can give you a good steer in that direction.

I note that you make no mention whatsoever of the serial number, and while I respect your reasons for doing so, please be aware that they too are faked. I have a list of surviving Walkers, by serial number, BTW. You can PM me with this one if you wish to - in confidence, it goes without saying. The serial numbers of the thousand military issue Walkers had the letter of the company to which the owner belonged, as in 'B COMP No78' . There were an additional one hundred made as 'gizzits' by Mr Colt for his pals and other he wanted to impress. However, the thing that gives me great cause for thought is that the cylinder locking bolt holes on your images are rectangular - those on a real Colt Walker are oval. There are, of course, quite a few other things there that need looking at too, in particular the rifling, but I'll leave that to the real experts rather than some hick know-all PITA furriner like me.

There are many tests, including intrusive metallurgical examination, that need to be expertly carried out on an alleged Walker to ensure that what you have really IS that million dollar handgun. The real thing had a cylinder made of iron, not steel, and they were very prone to bursting either when heavily loaded, or when the oft-used Pickett-style bullet was put in pointy-end down to save time.

You'd best start with that all-important letter-getting before you go any further. There are two possibilities here - either the buyer has gotten incredibly lucky and found a hitherto unknown Walker, or the buyer has been screwed to the tune of around $2750. IMO ebay is NOT the place to find an unknown Walker, but I'd be real happy for you to prove me wrong, even lacking the oval bolt holes.

You really have to ask, however, why the SELLER of this pistol 'let it go' at a potential loss of at least a quarter of a million dollars.......

tac, certified cynic.


PS - Here's a quick precis of the known totals of survivors -

A Company - 39 survive.
B Company - 27 survive
C Company - 37 survive
D Company - 26 survive
E Company - 18 survive.

Civilian - 16 survive.

 

[BillM]

Sir - not wishing to rain on your parade, but an original Colt Walker, even in the condition you show would usually fetch around fifty times what was paid on ebay for this one.

Excellent advise. There are WAY more fake Walkers out there than real
ones. Heck---ANY old Colt, especially the rarer ones, are a counterfeiters
playground. It's a "Buyer Beware" market out there, and a verified genuine
Colt Factory Letter (Yes, they can be faked too) is a really good start
toward guaranteeing that you don't get---um---"disappointed".

 

[fespar]

Thank you for your comments!As I stated earlier,I did not "Buy It Now" as I wanted to do some basic checks first.I believe that the seller simply was unaware of what he had.He made no mention of it being a Walker or its rarity.I am,however,trying to contact the buyer to further investigate it.Will up-date as soon as I learn more.

 

[tac]

Thank you for your comments!As I stated earlier,I did not "Buy It Now" as I wanted to do some basic checks first.I believe that the seller simply was unaware of what he had.He made no mention of it being a Walker or its rarity.I am,however,trying to contact the buyer to further investigate it.Will up-date as soon as I learn more.

Sir - respectfully, I'll bet you the $3000 that it's a fake. Remember, I'm holding one of the best examples of modern-day Colt Walker replications in my hand as I write this post.

Everything that is wrong with my replica is wrong on the one you showed us.

USFA will sell you a ready-antiqued Colt for around $1000 or so that would fool anybody.

Or I can acid-treat, bury for a coupla months and 'distress' my Walker and sell it to you for $3000.

I just HATE to see folks fooled.

tac, in warning mode

 

[fespar]

As I did not buy it for a mere $3000.00 I sure hope it's a fake!

 

[madcratebuilder]

It's a defrabed ASM or Uberti Italian replica. The cylinder notches are incorrect. The marking on top the barrel are incorrect. It's worth 5-600 bucks as a counterfeit walker.


For 3k you could buy three of these 2nd gens, just like the originals but new production.

 

[tac]

It's a defrabed ASM or Uberti Italian replica. The cylinder notches are incorrect. The marking on top the barrel are incorrect. It's worth 5-600 bucks as a counterfeit walker.

For 3k you could buy three of these 2nd gens, just like the originals but new production.

Thank you for confirming my comments.

tac

 

[fespar]

Thanks!Sure glad I didn't buy it for $3000.00!

 

[fespar]

Long time no see!Another 1847 Colt Walker question.
Two years ago I purchased a movie prop,a solid rubber Walker with all the markings including scenes on the cylinder.The mold was made in Los Angeles and sent to Italy for a very limited production.Based on the serial number etc. Mr.Phil Schreier,Chief Curator of the NRA Museum has informed me that this one was used in "The Outlaw Josey Wales" back in 1976!Hoe owns an exact copy of my gun including serial no. etc.
Now,provided he is correct,what would be the market value of it?In your opinion.It was owned by a reputable movie prop house in Hollywood.

 

[tac]

Sir, I have never seen anything like that before in my life! So I have not the foggiest notion on quite how much it would be worth.

As ever with items purporting to belonging to or having been the property of celebrities of one kind or another, there has to be 100% solid iron-clad provenance with the item concerned.

Best

tac

 

[fespar]

Sir,
Wouldn't a written statement from the Curator above suffice as proof?If not to 100% so at least,
well,pretty close.An extremly rare prop in any event.One was sold at an auction a few years ago for
$3500.00.

 

[lonegunman]

Why wouldn't you go to a Colt forum and bother those guys with your new found treasure and wealth? Are you just trolling the yard to see how many guys offer you 3K dollars for your "prize"?

 

[fespar]

First,I wouldn't sell it for 3K dollars!Just out to see if someone can shed some light on these props.

 

[U8395279]

If you want to buy a real 1847 Walker Colt, you are going to have to save up a lot of money.

They are an extremely rare gun. Only 1,100 of them were ever made in 1847. It is believed that only 160 of those still exist today. They were also quite a bad design. Colt replaced it with the 1848 Dragoon model, which had numerous improvements, and the US Army ordered 8,000 units of them.

It was also considered to be a very unlucky gun, as Texas Ranger Captain Walker was killed in a gun battle in 1847 shortly after receiving his two pistols from Colt.

In any event, save up your money if you want to get a real one:

http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/newshound/2008/10/1847-colt-walker-44-fetches-920k-auction

.

 

[fespar]

Thank you!I read about this Walker a few years back.An original will always be too expensive for me.Last week I saw a Uberti Walker, in Poland, priced at $300.00.Pretty good deal.

 

[Bon Sauvage]

Just to insure that there is no confusion: the "gun battle" Captain Walker was killed in was the battle of Humantala where he was shot by an escopette while leading his troops in action during the war with Mexico.