- Object Name
- Maker
- Place Made
- Title
Ranger and Indian cylinder scene proof plate
- Date
circa 1914
- Materials
Metal
- Dimensions
5 3/4 in x 1 11/16 in (14.5 cm x 4.5 cm)
- Credit Line
Museum purchase
- Object ID
87.118.165
-
- Institution
Autry Museum of the American West
-
- Category
Art and Artifacts
- Remarks
Early Colt revolvers had scenes roll-engraved on the cylinders. Many of the engravings were done by Waterman Lilly Ormsby, a renowned bank note engraver and thus a specialist in the art of engraving on steel plates. This scene, used on the Walker and Dragoon Model Revolvers, depicts a battle that took place in the summer of 1844. Armed with Colt revolvers, a small band of sixteen Texas Rangers led by Captain Jack Hays fought off a much larger force of eighty Comanche Indians. The incident proved the power of the Colt revolver, and in the wake of the failure of the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company, it was a watershed moment in the history of Samuel Colt’s invention. Not surprisingly, Colt chose to highlight the incident on the first revolvers he manufactured when he returned to gun making.
Proof plate, depicting the Ranger and Indian scene, made from original roll die engraved by Waterman Lilly Ormsby, circa 1914. Scene was roll-engraved on cylinders of Colt's Dragoon Model revolvers.
- Subject
The Colt Revolver in the American West (Greg Martin Colt Gallery)
The Genius of Samuel Colt (Greg Martin Colt Gallery)
- Pictured
- Publication
Colt the revolver of the American West / Jeffrey Richardson. page 37
- Location
GP.Gallery Community