Colt 1849 London Pocket Revolver 6"

This is one great-looking Colt Model 1849 Pocket Revolver that was built in Sam Colt's London factory in the year 1855. While the gun shows use, the original and subsequent owners took great care of it by keeping the gun clean, well-oiled, and away from moisture. As you can see, the metal has never oxidized and has almost no patina visible resulting in an exceptionally sharp and clean Model 1849 Pocket...especially the cylinder scene. I wish we could find more guns like this because they show detail better than even nicer guns with higher percentages of original finish and tend to obscure details or glare from reflection. Guns like this however are a dream to photograph......I think we took 130 photos of this gun without a bad one in the bunch. It took me two days just to decide on the 35-40 in this ad...it was tough...they were all so good.

Details: It's in .31 caliber with five-shot cylinder and a desirable 6" octagonal barrel. Barrel is marked "ADDRESS COL. COLT LONDON" in brackets. Samuel Colt came to England in 1851 to display his revolvers at an exposition in London. Colt's guns were such a hit that he decided to open a factory in London which operated from 1853-57 producing the Models 1849, 1851 Navy, and several hundred 3rd Model Dragoons. Unfortunately for Colt, the emergence of the homegrown double action Adams Revolver which was available in a multitude of calibers and configurations overshadowed Colt's products. The hard-hitting .44 Adams with its quick double action mechanism eclipsed Colt's Navy Model during conflicts in India and the Crimea and sales of the Colt began to wane by the mid-1850's forcing closure of the London factory. In spite of their relatively limited quantities, the quality of these London Colts is actually superior to any Colt produced in America.

This particular example has all of the features one expects to find on a London Pocket revolver with its English style high-domed screw heads, its iron trigger guard and backstrap, and its slim English Walnut grips which have the highest quality of varnish you'll ever find on a Colt. As you'd expect, it has proper English proofmarks from the London Proof House on the barrel and cylinder chambers. The serial number of this gun is in the low 6,000 range. All the numbers are matching on this gun with the curious exception of the loading lever which is a few numbers off (see photo). It too, is in the low 6,000 serial range and just 99 numbers away. Finish-wise it matches the gun perfectly so it's been with this gun since it was relatively new...and quite possibly a simple factory error. After all, what are the chances of finding one of these for a scarce London Pocket for an even scarcer 6" barrel in perfect matching condition to the gun...AND just a few serial numbers away? We also learned something very interesting about London Colts in our evaluation of this gun. If you look at the photo of the wedge, you may notice that it has a different set of die stamps than the rest of the serial number (see photo). Fearing this might be incorrect, we went back to another London 1849 Pocket in inventory and compared its wedge numbers. What a relief to find that our other London Pocket also has the same unique set of fonts. Even more fortunate was this gun has 2/3 of the same numerals in the serial number which made comparison simple and decisive. The London workmen clearly used a different set of dies for their wedges. Note the tiny zero and the plainer number two found on both of these wedges. Here is a link to that gun for comparison: http://www.antiquearmsinc.com/colt-london-1849-pocket-revolver-2.htm.This is something unique to London Colts.

CONDITION: NRA Antique VERY GOOD+++ Condition overall. The metal has worn mostly to a nice pleasing silver appearance with 10% original blue on the barrel...20% if you consider the amount of finish located under the loading lever. Loading lever retains 25% bright original case colors at the fulcrum. The case colors on the frame have mostly faded to silver. The breakdown is 20% discernable colors, 50% faded out to a nickel/silver appearance, and 30% silvery gray metal with no colors. The majority of the brighest colors are around the screw heads, under the recoil shield, and along the back of the recoil shield. Cylinder displays 95% of its rolled engraved scene depicting stagecoach robbery. It's not very often we get to say this, but the back of the cylinder has all five (100%) of its original safety pins between the chambers INTACT! We've had near MINT Colts that didn't have safety pins as nice as this one! The trigger guard has 30% of its original silver plating intact while the backstrap has 35% of its plating. 25% case colors on the hammer...mostly along the rear face. Trigger has 80% bright original blue on the profiles...REALLY nice and providing wonderful contrast to the nice silvered out case colors on the frame. Upon removal of the wedge, we noticed that it also has quite a bit of its original tempered heat blue....about 60% internally. Original English Walnut grips are Excellent showing 97% original varnish with just a few minor handling marks. Perfect wood-to-metal fit with no chips, cracks, or repairs. Bore has nice strong lands that are bright with some light scattered pits down in the grooves. Overall, Bore rates Good+ to Very Good overall. The mechanics are in excellent shape...cylinder indexes properly with and barrel locks firmly onto the frame. All in all, this is a wonderful little Colt London Pocket 1849 and worthy of display or put in a Colt London case!

Item# 1382

SOLD