New York Engraved Colt Single Action Army 1876

First-generation Colt Single Action Armies that went to JP Moore in New York in 1876 sit in a category most collectors never get to handle. This is one of them. The factory letter ties it to a batch of fifty revolvers shipped to Moore's Sons in New York City in November 1876, and Moore was the dealer who sent his guns out to engravers working in the New York German school, the same circle that orbited Louis D. Nimschke. You can read that lineage in the cut. Tight scroll runs across the frame, the loading gate, the recoil shield, and the full length of the barrel, with sunburst fans tucked behind the hammer and along the backstrap.

The barrel carries the early one-line Hartford address with the arrow flanked by COLT'S PT. F.A. MFG. CO., and the left frame wears the triple patent dates of September 1871, July 1872, and January 1875. Look at the trigger bow and you'll find 45 CAL stamped in. That's the .45 Colt chambering, paired here with the 7.5 inch Cavalry barrel that defines the period.

The nickel still carries a deep shine across most surfaces, with the engraving crisp enough to catch a fingernail. Two-piece mother-of-pearl grips dress the bird's head of the frame, full of the soft fire that only natural pearl throws. There's a small chip at the toe of the right panel, honest for grips of this age.

It comes in a Colt walnut presentation case lined in French-fitted purple velvet, with the brass key. The factory letter documents the shipment and confirms the configuration. Provenance traces through the E.M. Morgan Collection and later collector Horst Kreiner. For anyone chasing antique Colt single actions with real New York engraving and paper to back it, this is the kind of gun that anchors a collection rather than fills a slot.