1884 Colt SA Marked EEE

[Tascosa Joe]

Does anyone know of an organization from the 1880's that would have marked their pistols with EEE?  Possibly a Detective Agency or other type of Company that would require a security force.

[St. George]

It could well be an owner's mark - added years later.

I've run across these before - mostly done in the 1950's and '60's, when it must've been popular among collectors.

(The most memorable was one done with a Maltese Cross, and if you think 'that' didn't suddenly make everything 'German' - then you have a stunted imagination.)

That collector marked every damned thing he could get his paws on with his stamp - including leather and wood.

Your best bet is to backtrack the recent ownership of the weapon through whomever may've owned it in the last few decades.

Good Luck!

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[J.D. Yellowhammer]

It's expensive ($100, I think) but you might get a factory letter from Colt to find out who it was originally sold to. That would settle whether its first owner was EEE.

[Tascosa Joe]

This one has 3 small capital E's stamped in front of the serial number on the frame about the same size as the SN's.  It also has a larger E stamped behind the trigger guard.  Other than those letters it is a decent specimen of an early Colt that saw a lot of use.

[Fox Creek Kid]

Some large ranches issued guns to employees and marked their respective guns so as they would be less apt to "walk" off. There is a "EEE Ranch" in Carbon, TX extant. Research has to begin somewhere. 

[Tascosa Joe]

It turned out to be a Hollywood Movie Supply Company.

[The Pathfinder]

Joe, I can sympathize with you. I picked up a beautiful first year 1878 Colt this year and it's got 'WCC' stamped on it multiple times, and badly done at that. Ruins the looks of an otherwise very nice old Colt. Altho' I'd love to know the history of how it went from being shipped to England in 1878 to ending up in a gunshop in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2012 with a detour thru Hollywood along the way.