While browsing the catalog of June 2020 Rock Island Premier Gun Auction, I came across this rather interesting lot which we’ll take a look at in today’s Wheelgun Wednesday. The lot consists of a factory engraved Colt Single Action Army revolver and a half-scale miniature replica that perfectly copies the full-scale gun down to smallest details of the engraving and grip carving. The miniature gun is so well executed that the above-embedded picture almost looks like a Photoshopped one.

This Colt SAA and its miniature replica have been featured in the “Scale Model Firearms” book written by Joseph D. Kramer. According to the Colt factory letter that accompanies this lot, the full-size revolver was shipped in December of 1911. The miniature replica, however, was made much later, after World War II, by famous miniature gun maker Raymond E. Hutchens. The full-size gun is chambered in .45 Long Colt. The description of the miniature revolver mentions that it is a 22 caliber gun, however, the exact cartridge it is chambered in is unknown. The mechanism of the miniature revolver does function and the hammer is designed to hit a rimfire primer. If you scale down the .45 Long Colt cartridge by a scale factor of one half, you’ll end up with a cartridge that has an overall length slightly longer than .22 Short and a bit shorter than .22 Long. So I think the miniature gun is most likely chambered in .22 Short.

Closeup view of the full-size gun.

Closeup view of the miniature gun.

Below you can find the Rock Island Auction’s description of engravings and finishes seen on these revolvers:

The Cuno Helfricht style factory floral scroll engraving on a punch dot background is featured on the sides of the barrel and frame and on the cylinder between the flutes. Zig-zag line and dot motifs appear on the back strap, butt, cylinder at the rear, ejector housing, top strap, and recoil shield. The Rampant Colt medallion grips feature an unusual relief carving of Saint George and the dragon on the right panel. The barrel has the two-line address on top and “45 COLT” inside a banner on the left side. The left side of the frame has the two-line patent date marking inside a banner followed by a circled Rampant Colt. Matching serial numbers are on the frame, trigger guard and back strap.

The June 2020 Rock Island Premier Gun Auction will take place on June 5th, 6th and 7th. This particular lot will be sold on Sunday, June 7th. The estimated price range that this lot will likely be sold at is $9,500 to $14,000.

Images courtesy of Rock Island Auction Company, www.rockislandauction.com