.44 caliber. 7.5" octagon to round barrel. SN: 12737 (mfg. ca.1853). Blued and color casehardened finish, brass backstrap and triggerguard, one-piece walnut grip. Single action percussion revolver with six-chambered smooth round cylinder. Top flat of barrel roll marked - ADDRESS SAML COLT NEW-YORK CITY -, with part of the word "YORK" and all of "CITY" missing due to a dovetail cut in the top flat for a leaf rear sight. Lower left of frame marked in three lines COLT'S/PATENT/US. Numbers mismatched with the frame, triggerguard and arbor having the matching serial number 12737. The the cylinder is numbered 12167, the wedge is numbered 3040, the loading lever is numbered 3422 and the grip is numbered in ink in the backstrap cut out 1697. Cylinder markings are not legible other than the mismatched serial number. Rear sight is missing from the dovetail cut, but the hammer nose notch is present and the front sight is a German silver blade.

The Colt Dragoon was the improved version of the famous Colt Walker .44 handgun and between 1848 and 1860 some 18,000 of the guns were produced in three models. The Third Model Dragoon was manufactured in the largest numbers with about 9,000 produced between 1851 and 1860. Much of that production went to fill government military contracts.