James Butler Hickok's engraved navy revolver's ?

[Cliff Fendley]

Were Wild Bills engraved navy revolvers blue engraved or nickel plated. I've read accounts both ways but the picture of the one in Packing Iron appears to be blued with most of the bluing gone.

I also found a picture on line of what appears to be the same gun.

Does anyone have any sources of good info on his guns. A search just turns up a bunch of BS replica guns in 44 and everything else.

[rebsr52339]

Hi Cliff. The Navy Colt that is inscribed "J.B. Hickock 1869" on the back strap, ser #138813, is on display at the Gene Autry museum and is pictured on page 146 in R. L. Wilsons book, "The Peacemakers". It looks to me like it was blued with case harden loading lever and "maybe" the frame too. It is of course engraved with ivory grips with a carved eagle on the left side. The bluing looks almost all worn off but you can still see some on the front and rear of the bbl. A beautiful gun.

[Cliff Fendley]

Thanks, I believe that may be the same gun I was looking at and it appeared that way to me.

[rebsr52339]

Cliff, just did the same and compared them and they are the same photo. The one in Wilson's book is bigger. Although I still think it is blue, it is not outside the realm of possibility that it was silver plated and it has worn off and what we see is the silver tarnishing. I do not believe it was nickel plated as the finish is "too nice" even in its worn state. I guess a trip to the museum is in order,. When you going?   

[St. George]

When those weapons were new - silver-plating was quite common and would've been a natural.

Nickle would follow later in time.

Silverplate - beautiful thing that it is - is fragile surface covering, and prone to show wear, as any tarnished plated surfaces often are left bare when cleaned vigorously, or often.

Still, a worn silver-plated weapon has a more appealing look to it than a nickle-plated weapon with the same wear.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Coal Creek Griff]

In his book "Wild Bill Hickok, Gunfighter", Joseph Rosa speaks extensively about this pistol (and its doubtful authenticity), but doesn't mention the original finish.

CC Griff

[rebsr52339]

No horse in this race but, what if any is his issue about the gun?

[Coal Creek Griff]

I don't have the book in front of me at the moment, but when the gun was photographed in the 1950's, the engraving had Hickok's name spelled "Hickock".  It was later expertly changed to the correct spelling.  Also, it had been passed down through some family members of someone who claimed to know Hickok, but some of the details of that association were questionable.  I'm sorry that I can't remember the details off hand.

It is interesting to note that the gun was reportedly one of a pair.  The serial number of the cylinder is different from the frame by 13 numbers (coincidentally so is another unrelated Hickok gun in Cody).  The theory is that the cylinders may have been switched with the other gun when both were disassembled together.  Rosa hopes that another, similar gun shows up with the frame serial number matching the cylinder on this gun.  He notes that the Colt records were lost in a fire, so it is difficult to determine where the gun was originally shipped and its original configuration.

I hope that helps.

CC Griff

PS--I found a link to portions of Rosa's book: http://books.google.com/books?id=p-XlcmRz5dkC&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=138813+hickok&source=bl&ots=8ACcDowtID&sig=GZb65jpA9xn--vT0lguUnT1OgQg&hl=en&ei=KyKmTef2PI6isAOxh5D5DA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=138813%20hickok&f=false

[rebsr52339]

Outstanding Coal Creek.  God I love this forum.   

[Cliff Fendley]

No horse in this race but, what if any is his issue about the gun?

I got to noticing many replicas claiming to be authentic replicas are plated but the pictures of the one that I was aware of with his name engraved did not appear so and was searching for the truth.

Was also trying to figure out how close the engraved Pietti 1851 Cabelas sells is to being authentic.

Thanks for the link CCG, I dont have that one.

[Bishop Creek]

I have one of the gunfighter coffee table books by Rosa that shows Hickok's revolver at the Autry museum in full color and you can tell that it was once silver plated.  

I remember seeing a "Hickok" 1851 Navy revolver for sale at the big Las Vegas gun show back in 1974 or so, it was the featured piece at the show. It had ivory grips and was gray in color with faint traces of silver plating on it. The asking price at that time was $25,000. I took a keen interest in it being an Old West fan and owner of a brass framed '51 Italian replica, so I studied it carefully. I don't know if that was the one that ended up at the Autry museum or in Cody.