4 Digit U.S. Colt

If he has a few like this I think a major auction house would probably sell them for little to no commission on the seller's side.
I would choose Julia's

P.S.
If this one is genuine, it would be 30 to 40k or more

Thank you, but I believe 30-40k is a little light. Please tell me more about Julia's

You may want this thread moved to the Single Action Forum.
It appears to be an exceptionally nice Ainsworth inspected Cavalry Model from Lot 4, 1000 revolvers estimated serial numbers 3438-4515, received at Springfield Armory January 24, 1874.

If you don't already have one, you will absolutely need a Kopec letter before you start shopping this revolver.
Pehaps it the lighting but I don't see any inspector cartouche on the stocks. I would expect the cartouche to be as nice and crisp as the rest of the gun. The loading gate number is an assembly number and won't match the serial number.

Ditto on James Julia. Great auction house that is a couple hours away from me

Rare Firearms

The cylinder looks odd. Maybe it is just because it is a really early one? But the notches look weird, and the front edge bevel doesn't look beveled enough.

Can anyone elaborate for me as I am no expert on 1st gens?

Yes, appears to be exceptionally nice, but, as someone else mentioned, the cartouche is missing, but it could be the lighting. DEFINITELY want to send it off to Mr Kopec. If he gives you the green light, I see it bringing $35K, as, if my memory is correct, this is what one nearly identical to this one brought at Julia's fairly recently. With a 15%buyer's premium, the buyer coughed up just over $40K.

Question: Why do you ask what this would bring, and you get a response of $30 to $40K and then state that it seems a bit "light". Of course, the seller could have purchased it yesterday, but, being 85 years old, this would not necessarily be uncommon, but, at the very least, unlikely. Usually the response is WOW, it was purchased 50 years ago for $250, and my son in law's friend's uncle said it was worth $7500.

I would take it to Julia's for auction after obtaining your Kopec letter.

I don't believe that cylinder is from a four digit U.S. Colt, and where is the cartouch ?

Wow, when compared to others that are early, the cylinder scalloping is indeed different. Makes it strongly possible this cylinder is not original to this particular firearm. Very good, and I missed this!

Unfortunately, this impacts the value somewhat more than immensely. Also, makes one wonder what else might be wrong with this firearm?

I don't believe that that early a gun as the OP's should have any leads to the bolt notches at all.

OWH is stamped on the left side grip, all numbers including the cylinder match
Did not even see the SAA section, Mods please move to proper section. Thanks

The short lead-ins to the cylinder notches, the beveling on the front of the cylinder between the flutes, and the flutes are consistent with some images of early SAAs that I've seen in The Official Record of the Colt Single Action Army Revolver 1873 - 1895. There's a good image on page 49 with a cylinder that looks quite similar.

Best regards,

I googled several images of 4 digit examples and the flutes were more rounded at the rear

Rick Bowles said:

Here's a comparison image.

Click to expand...

Why are there on 2 pat lines on the OP's gun? The one above has a serial number close to the OP's gun so you would think it would have 3 pat lines. Also the US stamp looks different. Just trying to learn here.

The SAA that Rick posted is not an early Ainsworth. I think he was simply trying to show
what a typical Cavalry might look like.