A Singularly Fine Remington New Model Army .44 Cal. Civil War Revolver With Around 80% Original Mirror Blue Finish Remaining

It is very rare to find a Remington New Model army revolver from the Civil War with so much original finish remaining intact and present. One cannot over estimate the value of such a revolver that increases in value quite exceptionally when its original finish is beyond 50% remaining. For example a Colt US contract 1861 Navy revolver, with 95%+ original finish can now sell for almost a quarter of a million dollars. In 2020 one with 95%+ original blue condition, sold at auction in America for $212,000.

Closed frame with 6 shot cylinder, brass trigger guard, wood grips, C, D & S inspection stamps throughout, and B H, for Benjamin Hannis',his US Civil war inspector's grip cartouch stamp on the grip plate.

In the field, even though the Colt revolver had the name and the mystique, many cavalry troopers preferred the much sturdier solid frame design of the Remington revolver. Approximately 106,000 Remington Model New Model Army percussion revolvers were purchased by US government during the American Civil War, with a total of approximately 114,000 of all types of Remington percussion revolvers purchased during the course of the war. Approximately 80,000 of these were purchased during the last two years of the war, between 1863 and 1865. According to the research published in Remington Army & Navy Revolvers 1861-1868 by Donald L. Ware, Remington revolvers through serial 149,000 were accepted prior to the end of the Civil War. Guns below serial 123,000 were accepted prior to the end of 1864.the Remington New Model Army was the primary revolver issued to Union cavalry after the fire at the Colt's factory in 1863, and these revolvers remained in service with the regular cavalry regiments on the frontier until they were replaced with the Model 1873 Colt Cavalry Revolvers in 1875. Three years after the end of the Civil War, Remington started to offer conversions for metal cartridges to be used instead of the cap & ball style paper cases. Remington paid a small fee to the renowned Smith & Wesson company who owned the 1855 Rollin White patent 12,648 on the method and principles for re-boring out cylinders and thus Remington was the first company to offer big .44 calibre metal cartridges a couple of years before the main competitors of Colt and S & W . The Remington 1858 New Model Army in .44 caliber was quite a powerful gun in its day and the bullet or ball could be fired out at over 1,000 feet per second (f.p.s) which was quite fast in the 1860's as most bullet velocities were around 750 f.p.s

William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody used an ivory-handled New Model Army .44, serial number 73,293, from 1863 until 1906, when he gave it to his ranch foreman with a handwritten note which said that, "It never failed me." The Remington revolver permitted easy cylinder removal, allowing a quick reload with a spare pre-loaded cylinder; this being an advantage over other revolver designs of the time.

Code: 24802