COLT M1851 HARTFORD NAVY REVOLVER SN# 96549 (1860)
Regular price
$1,995.00
Sale
Really nice Colt Hartford .36 cal Navy Revolver SN#96549 which would be an 1860 production with a strong association to the Confederacy. The gun has an overall pleasing patina and has never been cleaned. Great Hartford Barrel Address as well as Colt Stamp on left side of frame. Has nice sharp edges and a good bit of original finish left on its brass handle and trigger guard. All matching numbers including the wedge.. Still has lots or original Navy Battle scene and a really good Colt and serial number stamp on its cylinder. Bore and rifling are in good shape and the gun has perfect mechanics and could be used in service today. Walnut grips are in good shape with the usual bumps and bruises from service. It does have a small section missing from the toe on each side but they fit the gun perfectly.
To some, this is just a Colt 1851 Navy Revolver but what makes it interesting is its place in U.S. history. This gun was built during a political storm and fallout from the presidential election of 1860. During this time, eight of an eventual eleven states would secede from the United States in an attempt to establish "The Confederate States of America". To do so, Southern states began to aggressively arm themselves for what was thought would be a short and successful war to break away from the Union. This Colt was built inside the five month window between Abraham Lincoln's presidential win (Nov. 1860) and the beginning of the Civil War (April 1861). The following table lists the dates of secession:
State |
Date of Secession |
South Carolina |
December 20, 1860 |
Mississippi |
January 9, 1861 |
Florida |
January 10, 1861 |
Alabama |
January 11, 1861 |
Georgia |
January 19, 1861 |
Louisiana |
January 26, 1861 |
Texas |
February 1, 1861 |
Virginia |
April 17, 1861 |
Arkansas |
May 6, 1861 |
North Carolina |
May 20, 1861 |
Tennessee |
June 8, 1861 |
In the year 1860, Colt produced 5,000 Model 1851 Navy Revolvers from the serial numbers 93,000 to 97,000. The serial number of this gun is 97,367, putting it in the last several hundred manufactured by Colt in the year 1860, probably just after Lincoln's victory in November. This one fits right between a Colt 1851 Navy we recently acquired from an old estate in South Carolina in the 96,000 range and another 1851 in the 97,000 range that was found in Savannah in the late 1960's
In addition to these guns, Springfield Research also lists a Colt Navy, serial number 96,498, issued to "MCCLELLAN TRP TENN CAV CSA" on a muster roll dated August 25, 1861. Another '51 has recently turned up in the 94,000 range with an inscription to the 3rd Alabama Cavalry.
The sizable portion of the Colt 1851 Navy revolvers mf'd in the 90,000 to 100,000 serial range are believed to have shipped to the South in the months prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. Unfortunately, the shipping records for much of the 1851 production were lost in the 1864 fire that destroyed most of the Colt factory. The records that did survive start at 98,000 and they run up to 135,000. This leaves a small window of just about 2,000 Model 1851's built in the early part of 1861 (before the war begins) that can letter with the possibility of shipping to Confederate territory. There are far more Southern Colts prior to this range...they just can't be documented. Here is the good news! Hartford Navies in the 90,000 range are a BARGAIN for collectors wanting to own a Confederate handgun. A Colt documented as shipping South through Colt records is usually going to cost a collector $10,000 and up these days. A Confederate-made copy of a Colt such as a Leech and Rigdon or Griswold...$15,000 and well beyond...an imported Lemat Revolver...often $9,000 and up..and a London Armoury-made Kerr Revolver usually runs $4,000 and up. These
The Hartford Barrel Address: Even in early 1861 as the talk of war enveloped the
Once the war began in April, 1861 and the South's ability to purchase weapons from the industrialized North quickly came to an end, the newly-formed Confederacy had to turn to Europe to supply the majority of weapons; the largest of which was
"Damon Mills"