Sold for $3,600
.31 caliber. 4" octagonal barrel. SN: 14317 (Mfg. ca.1850). Blued and color casehardened finish, silver plated brass backstrap and square backed triggerguard, varnished one-piece walnut grip. Single action percussion revolver with smooth round five-chambered cylinder with five safety pins, hammer nose notch rear sight and brass cone front sight. Barrel with two-line bracketed address that reads: {ADDRESS SAML COLT/NEW YORK CITY} and lower left of frame with two line COLTS/PATENT mark. Left of triggerguard with factory F and G inspection marks on the front and rear webs, respectively. Cylinder with crisp Stage Coach Hold Up Scene and standard COLTS/PATENT mark over serial number. Matching numbers throughout including wedge and grip. Toggle loading lever with correct, exposed head pivot screw. Triggerguard with correct short trigger hole with squared off front.
It has been proposed in Colt's Pocket '49 Including the Baby Dragoon & Wells Fargo by Jordan & Watt that these late production Baby Dragoon revolvers with loading levers (or potentially "square backed Pocket Revolvers") were only produced with the two line "dashed" New York City address and that any example with a two-line bracketed New York City address is spurious. However the triggerguard is completely correct and bears factory inspection stamps, the rammer displays the correct exposed-head pivot screw, that would not become a countersunk screw until some time around the 15XXX range. More realistically these should probably be considered "square backed Pocket Revolvers" that were simply being produced using up left over late production Baby Dragoon trigger guards.
Fine. Bore very good with strong rifling, moderate oxidation and scattered light pitting. Barrel and cylinder with much of the blue, which has faded, dulled and thinned. Lever and frame with dusky traces of mottled color. Markings remain clear and crisp throughout. Cylinder with most of the scene crisp and fully visible. Triggerguard and backstrap with much of the silver plating intact. Mechanically functional. Safety pins all mostly intact with one moderately worn. Grip fine with most of the varnish and crisp edges, showing some scattered handling marks.