#SamuelColt

The venerable 1911: love it or hate it, view it as outdated or enduring, it’s hard to argue against the design’s historical importance. It served as the US military’s standard issue sidearm for the majority of the 20th century, through multiple conflicts including two World Wars (not that any 1911 fanboy would ever let you forget that fact). Millions have been made and sold, from the original version to more modern takes on it from companies like Wilson Combat, Springfield, and many more. While plenty of them have been intended as hard-use handguns, others have been more artistically inclined and meant to be admired more than fielded. With a September 15th press release, Davidson’s has announced a collaborative version with Colt and Baron Engraving which falls squarely in the latter category. The release reads:

Continuing our series of articles telling about the most expensive firearms sold in the major US auction houses, today we’ll take a look at the ten most expensive firearms sold in December 2017 Rock Island Premiere Auction. This time there are also two world records set.

In the last few years, we have seen tumultous times for Colt. The prancing pony company has been in and out of bakrupty twice in as many decades, driven there by a variety of factors including no new products, lack of internal manufacturing (much is outsourced and only assembled by Colt), draining of the coffers by corporate entities, etc, etc… Colt today does not even own their iconic building, instead selling it and renting it from another entity.

Last month the bronze crest that normally resides on the Samuel Colt monument was pried off and stolen by vandals. Since then James L. Griffin, director of the Sam and Elizabeth Colt Industrial and Frontier Heritage Center in Hartford, has located the missing tribute to one of the most influential men in American firearms history.