This is a good solid example of an 1895 Colt Double Action Revolver with an early Antique Serial number and some unusual markings. At first glance, I thought this was a US Navy revolver as it has a Naval trident symbol along the bottomstrap and a 3 digit property number. However, upon 2nd glance, while it does have the trident symbol, it isn't marked with an anchor or the "USN" designation. Since this obviously had something to do with US Naval service, we looked the serial number up on the Springfield research website and came up with something interesting. There was a similar revolver just 20 serial numbers away that was shown in inventory on the US Coast Guard ship USCGC ALGONQUIN as "ON HAND" as well as several other Colt DA's in the same serial range. If you just use the 3 digit number property number, there are also several more guns that show up as US Coast Guard issued....although these could also be very early Model 1889's with 3 digit serial numbers...no model no's are designated in Springfield Research. Records posted on a few other sites note that the US Coast Guard did purchase Colt Double Action Revolvers. Given the markings and the close proximity of the serial number to several other revolvers listed in Springfield Research, it seems relatively safe to assume that this is in fact an early Coast Guard Issued Model 1895 Colt DA Revolver. I believe the service was actually called the US Revenue Cutter Service during the late 1800's.
Overall condition is NRA Antique Very good showing mostly a very smooth light grey finish (probably cleaned many years ago) with strong traces of original blue in protected areas. This gun has very sharp edges and nice crisp markings throughout with evidence of original fire blue on some of the screws, trigger, and hammer. The barrel has the standard Colt 2 -line Address with 1884, 1888, and 1895 patent dates. Left side of the barrel is marked "COLT D.A. 38". Fine hard rubber grips with the Colt logo and sharp checkering. A couple of minor nicks, but no chips, cracks, or repairs. The action works nicely and the bore looks perfect. Original sights have never been altered and matching assembly numbers. Just a nice strong example that doesn't show much wear...but has very little finish. We've had plenty of DA's over the years that were Civilian, US Army, and even a few Navy's but this is the only example of what must be a US Revenue Cutter Colt Double Action Revolver that we've encountered.
SOLD
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