4141 FAMOUS & HISTORIC COLT NAVY REVOLVER PRESENTED

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[?]Live Online Auction Starts In 2025 May 11 @ 10:00 (UTC-04:00 : AST/EDT)
Category Firearms & Military
Auction Currency USD
Start Price 40,000.00 USD
Estimated at 80,000.00 - 160,000.00 USD
BY TEXAS RANGER SUL ROSS AFTER "BATTLE OF PEASE RIVER" DECEMBER 19, 1860, WHERE REUNIFICATION OF CYNTHIA PARKER WHO WAS TAKEN BY COMMANCHES IN 1836. S# 89149. Cal. 36. Possibly the most famous & historic of any Colt percussion pistol with fantastic pedigree is this 1859 manufactured Navy revolver inscribed on grip strap: "Presented by Capt. L. S. Ross to C. R. Gray" and "First Scalp". This gun is featured by Jim Supica, former curator of the NRA Museum, in his sixteen-page article, "Pieces of History: Historically Attributed Firearms", Gun Digest, 2025 Standard Catalog of Firearms, p. 809.

Ordered by Texas Governer Sam Houston, in mid December 1860, Texas Ranger Captain "Sul" Ross led Ranger Company B out of Waco to take revenge upon Comanches who had been rampaging through north Texas, torturing, killing and scalping settlers. On December 19, Ross discovered an enemy encampment. Before ordering the attack, he promised to award his gun to man who first killed and scalped an Indian. In the fight, Ross mortally wounded the Comanche Chief, Peta Nacona.

After the fight, Ross, a future Confederate General, Texas Governor and the Father of Texas A&M, field inscribed the gun's back strap, carved "First Scalp" in the butt and presented it to C.R. Gray. (Claredon Ross Gray is listed on Ross's roster of Texas Rangers who took part in the raid). Ross recounted this in his January 4, 1861 after-battle report to Governor Sam Houston, "I made a proposition to present the first man who should kill and scalp an Indian with a Colt's revolver and after the battle, it was awarded to "C.R.Gray".

The Battle of Pease River became famous because it resulted in the recovery of a woman who had been kidnapped by Comanches twenty-four years earlier: Cynthia Ann Parker. Famous Texas scout/ cowboy / rancher, Charles Goodnight, stated that he was the Texas Ranger who, upon seeing Cynthia's blue eyes, realized that she was not an Indian, and saved her.

The story of Cynthia Ann Parker's kidnapping in 1836, her adoption by the Comanches, and her marriage to Peta Nacona made her a National sensation. Her story gained even more fame when it was revealed that one of her sons, who had escaped Pease River, became the Comanche's last great war chief, Quanah Parker. He held out until 1875. Thirty years later, he rode in Teddy Roosevelt's inaugural parade.

In popular culture, the story of Cynthia Ann and Quanah Parker has been told in movies, books, articles and even an opera. Famously, the classic 1956 John Ford/John Wayne movie "The Searchers" based on Curtis Le May's novel of the same name that traces the real-life story of Cynthia Ann's Uncle, James Parker, who for nine years roamed Comancheria searching for his niece. "Empire of the Summer Moon", 2010 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, by S.C. Gwynne, provides a compelling narrative of the rise and fall of the Comanches and the Parkers' sage. The book is slated for a movie screen adaptation to be written, directed and produced by Taylor Sheridan, best known for his television blockbuster "Yellowstone".

UNATTACHED ACCESSORIES: large file of copied receipts, correspondence, best 20 page factual account of Pease River fight, and participants in 2009 article from Southern Western Historical Quarterly. Copied Christies 2001 catalog description (when the story behind the gun was then unknown) and price realized of $99,500, a record price at the time against a $20,000 estimate showing the desirability of historic Texas arms. CONDITION: very good "as found", complete & matching as carried with contemporary repair to loading lever screw/bolt, retains traces of original factory varnish, traces silver plated grip frame. Inscriptions & markings are very good. Mechanically functional, worn pitted rifled bore; original brown leather slim Jim holster is very good & sound.

PROVENANCE: Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross (1838-1898) 22 year-old seasoned ranger commanding the Texas rangers promising a reward of his pistol and mentioned the recipient in Jan. 4, 1861 report to Governor Sam Houston. Clarendon R. Gray would receive this pistol from Sul Ross, nicely field inscribed. Gray's discharge card from the rangers show a pistol valued at $30 February 4, 1861. Gray may have carried this revolver in Civil War as part of 1st Texas cavalry till discharge in 1865 in San Antonio. Gray died in 1877. Revolver was purchased by John Knox (1881-1964) from teenager Herbert Hester (1906-1984) in 1913 who obtained it from John C. Parker (1862-1952), Giddings, TX. Knox traded it to renowned TX collector/historian Gaines de Graffenried in 1955. De Graffenreid, only knowing that it had some historical value, displayed revolver as part of his Texas arms at the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame Museum in Waco for three decades and it was published in "TEXAS COLLECTOR, GAINES DE GRAFFENRIED, 1987 detailing its impeccable provenance. After Gaines death, his collection was sold at Christies June 19, 2001. (01-26165/JS). ANTIQUE. $80,000-160,000.