Arms, Armor and Militaria

.44-40. 7.5" barrel. SN: 33021 (mfg. ca. 1893). Blued finish, color casehardened hammer, checkered Rampant Colt logo hard rubber grips. Double action solid frame revolver with loading gate, frame notch rear sight, blade front sight, six-chambered fluted cylinder and lanyard loop in butt. Top of barrel roll marked in a single line COLT'S PT. F.A. MFG. CO HARTFORD, CT. U.S.A. with the left side roll marked COLT FRONTIER SIX SHOOTER. Left frame with small {Rampant Colt} logo in circle above grip juncture. The loading gate and left of frame under grip are both assembly numbered 200. The bottom of the barrel is marked 44 and V under the cylinder arbor pin. The interior of the left grip is scratched with the name FRANK WHITE and PARK CO/MONTANA and the interior of the right grip has a rudimentary Masonic {Square & Compass} scratched in it. From the Collection of Charles Worman, co-author of the two volume set Firearms of the American West. The gun is accompanied by a Colt Factory Letter noting it was shipped to Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Company in Chicago on October 15, 1894 and there were two guns of the same type in the shipment. The letter confirms the configuration of this gun, but notes that that barrel length was "illegible" in the records. Also accompanying the gun are photos of it with a small note that was found inside the grips years ago, but is now missing. The note apparently read "Presented to Frank H White 5-11-10 Wm F Cody." Correspondence included with the gun confirms from the Park County Montana Museum confirms that Frank H White was a Livingston, MT resident from at least 1883 and was well known as a rustler and later as a saloon owner, lunch counter owner and also operated a gaming hall. Whether the gun was really presented to White by Cody is impossible to confirm, but White was certainly a colorful character in the area probably did own the gun, based upon the old scratched information in the grips.