Colt Buntline Special .45 Master Engraved by Tony Tuscano

Look at the barrel near the muzzle and you will find a small script line that tells the whole story: A. Tuscano, Engr. This Colt Buntline Special .45 is the work of master engraver Anthony Tuscano, and it carries his name where he wanted you to find it. The signed work is the detail that separates this revolver from the thousands of decorated Colts that never came from a recognized hand.

The coverage is total. Tuscano cut deep relief scroll across the full length of the barrel, the frame, the loading gate, and the backstrap, then framed the work with thin gold lines that trace the contours. The hammer, ejector rod head, and base pin wear bright gold, and the gripframe is gilded and engraved to match. Against the dark steel, the 24-karat inlay glows rather than shouts.

Then there are the motifs. One side of the recoil shield holds a sunburst rendered in gold. The other carries a gold eagle perched on a branch. The cylinder flutes are flooded with gold acanthos scroll that wraps the whole circumference. It is the kind of layout that rewards turning the gun slowly in the light.

The Buntline platform itself is the long story. Colt revived the 12 inch barrel name for the Single Action Army in the late 1950s, and this one wears the classic flat top barrel with a folding sight, marked Colt Buntline Special .45 in gold fill. The grips are figured walnut with a deep reddish flame, fitted clean to the gilded gripframe. Mechanically it functions as a Colt single action should, with the familiar four click hammer.

For a collector who values signed engraving over anonymous shine, this is the piece to chase. One hand did all of it, and that hand left its name on the steel.