COLT ARMY REVOLVER WITH BONE GRIP CARVED IN RELIEF WITH A PORTRAIT OF ULYSSES S. GRANT, LIKELY MADE TO COMMEMORATE HIS INAUGURATION OR AS A PERIOD TRIBUTE 

Model 1860 Colt Army Revolver. New York, 1869. Serial no. 181012 on barrel, frame, cylinder, and trigger guard; backstrap numbered 26940. Top of barrel marked: “ADDRESS COL. SAML COLT NEW-YORK U.S. AMERICA.” Left side of frame stamped: “COLT’S/PATENT". Cylinder with Ormsby naval engagement scene and stamped "COLT'S PATENT  No. 012.” Brass trigger guard.

A striking and highly unusual patriotic Colt revolver, distinguished by an iv0ry grip carved in relief with a portrait of Ulysses S. Grant, perhaps produced to mark the moment of his ascent to the presidency. Produced in 1869, the year of Grant’s first inauguration, the revolver reflects the powerful public appeal of Grant’s image at the height of his fame. 

Intriguingly, a grip carved with Grant's portrait in nearly the precise same manner as the one offered here belonged to Grant himself. Mounted on a Remington revolver, it was sold alongside another of Grant’s firearms for $5.17 million in 2022. We can trace no other carved grips that have sold publicly at auction. 

As Union general-in-chief during the Civil War, Grant earned the sobriquet “Unconditional Surrender” Grant after his demand for the surrender of Confederate forces at Fort Donelson in 1862. He went on to secure some of the conflict’s most consequential victories, including Vicksburg and, at Appomattox in 1865, the surrender that sealed the Confederacy’s collapse. Elected the 18th President in 1868, Grant entered office in 1869 as one of the most admired men in America, his likeness immediately becoming a potent emblem of Union triumph, national reunion, and federal authority. In that context, the present revolver is especially compelling. 

[Guns, Firearms, Revolvers, Rifles, Longarms, Handguns, Arms & Armor]