A "pseudo" Colt "London Agency" Cased Peacemaker ... (pics)

[RattlesnakeJack]

Having recently taken some pictures of a little project I completed a few years ago, I thought there might be some interest on this board.

While the Colt British connection (via the his aggressive UK marketing of his early percussion revolvers, and the Colt factory operated in England from early 1854 through the end of 1856) is relatively well know, Colt in fact maintained a London Agency from at least 1851/52 until 1904, and many of his cartridge models, including the Model 1873 Single Action Army revolver (often also called the "Peacemaker") were marketed in the United Kingdom. Many revolvers sold to British customers were cased, in styles distinctive to the London Agency.

What you see in the pictures below is a casing of one of my reproduction Colt Model 1873 revolvers (as used in cowboy action shooting) which I did up in the most common style offered by the London Agency, using a reproduction label which which was available. In addition to the "Pall Mall address" label, other distinctive features of this style of casing include the finger-jointed oak case (regretfully, I did not have any quarter-sawn oak - which was the most common material used in the original cases), the exposed flathead brass screws securing the top, the round brass escutcheon inset in the lid (engraved for me by a jeweller friend with an ornate "GHR" monogram of his own design), the lock design and positioning, the interior layout, the accessories included, and the serial number of the cased revolver stamped into the inner case frame to the right of the lock inset. (Of minor interest: I discovered that if my repro revolver's serial number was an original Colt number, that would place the year of manufacture as 1883, the year Medicine Hat was founded.)

Most of my information, and pictures for reference for this project, came from "Colt Peacemaker British Model", one of a series of books on different "Peacemaker"variations published by Keith Cochran, and "Colt - An American Legend" the epic work by R.L. Wilson, originally published to commemorate Colt's 150th anniversary in 1986.

This project represented a real mating of my two primary firearms interests - Canadian/British historical firearms, and "old west" firearms/cowboy action shooting.

[Gen Lew Wallace]

Very nice pard.   

[Frenchie]

Nice work, RJ, very impressive.

[Bushwack Bill]

   I got here late.  What happened to the picture?

[Jax Orebetter]

Not getting through for me either, RJ.

[RattlesnakeJack]

OK, Gents - its fixed ....

(My ISP - a local company - had a main server getting ready to "fry" several months ago, so they had to move everything to a different server -  None of my pictures (or website stuff) was lost, but the URL for every single item changed slightly!  As a result, any posts I had made linking to the old address of image files have to be edited to change it to the newer address, and then the images reappear.  However, not having the time or inclination to search the internet for the many posts I've made, I don't find 'em unless they are brought to my attention as you gentlemen just did ....)

I suppose I had better also anticipate possible comments about the "misalignment" of the screwhead slots on the top of the box, as welll as those affixing the hinges ....  That rather random appearing orientation is entirely "correct" - i.e. that is how they were in the original cases.  Since they are brass scews, turned into oak, they cannot be "overtightened" at all in an effort to align the slots, or the heads are likely to break right off!  ("Been there ... done that" -  the reference works specifically comment on this being the norm in the original cases, for that very reason.)

[Steel Horse Bailey]

I'm one of the late-viewers as well.  Thanks for fixing the URL.

That is a really gorgeous display!

[Jax Orebetter]

Looks great!!

[Dr. Bob]

Howdy RJR,

What a fine looking outfit!  I always find it interesting how conforming to the original design seems foreign to out 21st Century eyes.  Thanks for reconnecting the pictures!  Your are justly proud of the work that you did!

Regards,