Detroit auctioneer DuMouchelles Art Galleries Co is holding an exceptional three-day auction of art, silverware, furniture, weaponry and other antiques this weekend (Friday, July 9 to Sunday, July 11).
Appearing among the sale's high-end highlights will be this Colt Precision Cap Navy Revolver, dated to 1851 and manufactured in Hartford, Connecticut (as stamped along its octagonal barrel).
Notable features on the gun include fully-engraved leaf and vine patterns, added to its handle after it had left the factory, and an Anchor & US Navy eagle coat of arms on its ivory grips.
Boasting a seven-inches long barrel and 36 Calibre, the gun will auction with 20 lead ball shots and in an original fitted case with eagle, arrows and palm branch inlays on the lid. It is priced $15,000-18,000.
 The 1851 Colt Precision Cap Navy Revolver |
Although Samuel Colt never invented the revolver - nor ever claimed to - his innovations in weapons mass production are what have made the Colt revolver a staple of Western culture.
Colt's revolver was a more practical adoption of inventor Elisha Collier's flintlock, modified so that every part of the gun was interchangeable, made by machine and less expensive to produce.
Since then, for good or ill, the Colt has become iconic - whether favoured by Public Enemy #1 John Dillinger to rob banks, or wielded by Hollywood star Clint Eastwood on the silver screen.
In fact, the highest-selling piece of Dillinger memorabilia is a Colt Army Special revolver, used by an East Chicago Police Captain to fatally shoot Dillinger in 1934. It sold in 2009 for an astonishing $95,600.
DuMouchelles is based in Detroit, Michigan, but online bidding will also be available for interested collectors around the world to take part.
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