Make: Colt

Model: New Army

Serial Number: 266520, 266522

Year of Manufacture: 1906

Caliber: .38 Colt & .38 Special

Action Type: Single/Double Action Revolvers with Swing-Out Cylinders

Barrel Length: 4 1/2"

Sights / Optics: The front sights are round blades fixed to the front of the barrels. The rear sights are "U"-notches integral to the topstraps.

Stock Configuration & Condition: The grips are two-piece checkered black hard rubber with rampant colts at their tops.

266520- The inside of each panel has the assembly number hand-scribed. The right panel has a loss at the bottom-front corner across the indexing stud. The left panel has a repaired chip at the bottom-front corner. The grips show light handling wear with some scattered light nicks and scuffs. The checkering is generally well defined. Overall, the grips are in about Good condition.

266522- The inside of the right panel has wear with no visible marking, the inside of the left panel has a non-matching assembly number. The bottom of the left panel has "H W" hand-carved. There is a crack in the bottom of the right panel. The grips show light-moderate handling wear, more notable in the right panel. There are scattered light nicks and scuffs. The checkering is generally well defined. Overall, the grips are in Good condition as not original to the gun.

Type of Finish: Blue

Finish Originality: Original

Bore Condition:

26520- The bore is mostly bright with sharp rifling. There is scattered minor erosion in the bore. In this writer's opinion, the bore rates 8+/10.

26522- The bore is mostly bright with sharp rifling. There is infrequent faint erosion and a little fouling in the bore. In this writer's opinion, the bore rates 9/10.

Overall Condition:

26520- This revolver retains about 50% of its metal finish. The finish is thinning at all edges. There are fairly evenly scattered light nicks, scuffs, scratches and minor surface oxidation. The grip areas show more notable handling wear, mostly gone to a light patina. There is wear behind each flute on the cylinder. The action shows operational wear. The screw heads range from sharp to tool marked with strong slots. The markings are clear. Overall, this revolver is in Good condition.

26522- This revolver retains about 75% of its metal finish. The finish is thinning at all edges. There is fairly evenly scattered minor surface oxidation. There are some light nicks, scuffs and scratches. The backstrap shows handling wear, starting to go to a light patina. There is wear behind each flute on the cylinder. The action shows operational wear. The screw heads range from sharp to tool marked with strong slots. The markings are clear. Overall, this revolver is in about Very Good condition.

Mechanics: The actions function correctly. We did not fire these handguns. As with all used firearms, a thorough cleaning may be necessary to meet your maintenance requirements.

Box, Paperwork & Accessories: Included are a copy of "A Study of Colt's New Army and New Navy Pattern Double Action Revolvers", Colt Archive letters for each revolver, and copies of 1961 correspondence between RAE and one Frank Newton regarding his acquisition of 266520.

Our Assessment: Introduced in 1892, the Colt New Navy and New Army revolvers were an improvement on the 1889 Navy. The models saw continuing improvement with different design changes receiving different model numbers: 1892, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1901 and 1903. This is a very interesting pair which were bolt sold to Wells Fargo Company and were in the same shipment of 18 revolvers sent September 29, 1906. Now known primarily for their banking, Wells Fargo was founded by two of the founders of American Express to provide not only express freight to and from California, but to offer banking services to the area which was, at the time, still a fairly primitive frontier. The transfer of large quantities of cash and gold required that Wells Fargo have armed agents accompany their train cars, and even in 1906 there were still some scoundrels who would attempt to rob trains as they crossed the nation.

This pair is confirmed by Colt Archives to have been purchased by Wells Fargo, but are further documented with number 266520 purchased in 1961 with the assistance of the Railway Express Agency (the name given to Wells Fargo's freight forwarding service when it was nationalized during WWI) and number 266522 pictured in the included book "A Study of Colt's New Army and Navy Pattern Double Action Revolvers" by Robert Best. In fact, the revolvers were consigned from the personal collection of Mr. Best, giving them a little extra provenance. Please see our photos and good luck!