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A Man of Wealth and Taste
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Out there somewhere beyond the doors of perception
Posts: 51,063
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The Colt in the green box is an Officers Model made in the late 1930's if so it would say "Heavy Barrel" on the barrel and have a several patent dates on the top, with 1926 being the latest. If prewar it does not have factory sights, it has a King front sight and probably rear as well. The the hammer is not the 1930's Colt hammer. It might be an after market King, and say King Cockeyed Hammer? It also could be a post war Colt hammer as well, from the picture I can not tell. The grips are standard prewar grips. It is also possible that the barrel is not original, as it looks to be a bit heavy for the prewar guns. Serial # range will be around 640,000 or so.
On the other hand it is quiet possible that this gun is known as an Officers Model Special which was produced in the late 1940's. If so it would have Colts Patent Firearms Hartford CT on the top of the barrel and the SN range would be 700,000 something, however in this time frame the Colt SN ranges gets to be rather convoluted. . The sights would be factory for that gun. However the grips are definitely prewar. Otherwise it is an after market barrel (doubtful).
There are a lot of these guns kicking around, they were made from 1904 through 1970. The calibers were 38, 32 and 22. With prewar barrels being 4, 4.5, 5, 6 and 7.5 inches. The 32 is the rarest, with the bulk of production being around 1940. I know of only 4 guns in 32 made earlier, and they were built around 1920. After the war only 6 inch barrels were made, and the calibers were 38 and 22 with a very few 22 WM being thrown in the mix. The Python and Diamond Back revolvers supplanted this model. Very few of these guns were in nickle, as there is only one that I have seen that was said to be factory.
These guns are not a very widely collected gun. Nobody that I know of has specialized in collecting these guns. Almost every Colt collector will have one or two in his collection but that is about it. There is a collector of Colt Double Actions in Michigan that has about the best known collection of these around, but it only one part of a multifaceted collection of pre war Colt DA's. He has apx 1000 Colt DA's, one of practically every model, barrel length, caliber, and finish made. He currently is looking for about 4 guns to have a complete collection in which he has an example of every Colt DA made from 1908 to 1941. Almost all of them are in 95% condition or better, many with original boxes.
So depending on the condition of your revolver $475 is about what it is worth.
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Last edited by tabs; 03-29-2009 at 06:02 PM..
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