navy picture

[dlimoges]

I took this picture in a military museum today. It looks like it is good shape for an original.Forgive the light, shot it through glass.

 

[bdhutier]

IDK... Looks like a mighty suspicious curve on the back of the grip to me.

 

[Zonie]

Looks all right to me.

Sometimes it is a good idea to sit down with a book that shows many photos of the real guns and study them.

I think in this day of reproductions we get to thinking the Italian guns are how the real guns look and the real guns start looking suspicious.

 

[valerio]

No dings or dents on the wood, metal parts mint condition, too well conserved for a 150 years gun. :hmm:

 

[Claude Mathis]

Photos of originals here...
http://www.collectorsfirearms.com/admin/show_inventory.php?catID=13&subcatID=150

 

[Zonie]

Like the picture Claude shows, there are some original 155-160 year old Colts that are in almost brand new condition.

They are usually found in Colt Collectors collections and they can be worth over $22,000 each. :shocked2:

 

[dlimoges]

Zonie I was just thinking wether that was a Navy, because of the round barrel .The later Navy colts I think did have round barrels , but did they have all that brass?

 

[Zonie]

I think if you squint your eyes enough you will see that the reflection in the glass just makes the barrel look round.
It looks like an octagon barrel to me.
The brassy looking light off of the cylinder is also due to a light reflection.

As for all of that brass, the only brass parts I see on it are the trigger guard and the grip strap.

Almost all of the American made Colt 1851's had these brass parts but they were silver plated, like the one Claude shows in his post.
There are some American made 1851's that have steel grip straps and trigger guards and almost all of the London made 1851's had steel grips and trigger guards. (The British didn't like brass).

The bare brass on the gun in the photo is very likely due to the silver plating being polished off because it was tarnished. It's very common for this to happen.
So common that I suspect the gun in Claudes post has been replated.
Just for giggles (and to make them look more authentic) I silver plated all of my Italian Colts. The 1849, 1851 and 1862 are shown.

 

[junkman_01]

Jim,
Did you plate them yourself? They look great!

 

[Zonie]

Yes.

I took one backstrap and one trigger guard to a silver plating company and asked them how much would it cost. They estimated a price of $125.

I then went on line and found this stuff and ordered it. http://www.amazon.com/Liquid-Silver-Plating-Silverware-Medallion/dp/B002SHXJTM

The problem with the home applied plating is it will only deposit silver plating until all of the brass is coated. It won't build up any thickness.

The professional plating can be built up quite thick so it will last but as I mentioned $125 per gun is a steep price to pay in my opinion.

The Medallion method did a good job but it will wear quite rapidly so it needs to be reapplied from time to time.
On the plus side there is probably enough solution to plate 50 guns in that $15 bottle.

 

[junkman_01]

Thanks for the info.