Thursday, October 9, 2008

.44 Colt Walker revolver sells for record $920K!


(Photo by David Leaming, Morning Sentinel via AP.)
I'm a certified gun nut, particularly on pistols, but if I had this pistol, I'd sell it so fast it would be smoking when it left my hands. Would you believe $920,000, just pocket change shy of a cool million, for this .44 Colt Walker revolver?

An anonymous bidder paid $920,000 for this .44-caliber Colt Walker pistol yesterday in Fairfield, Maine.

James D. Julia Inc. says this is thought to be the highest price anyone has ever paid for a firearm at auction.

"Yee-ha," the gun's owner, John McBride, said as the winning bid was announced, according to the Morning Sentinel. "We did better than we had hoped."

The auction house says this "rare and historic" Colt Whitneyville-Walker pistol was issued during the Mexican-American war. "It is truly one of the greatest prizes of Colts in existence," auctioneer James Julia tells the paper.

It was made for U.S. marshals in the 1840s and its previous owner says he never fired it.

The price includes a buyer's fee of $120,000 charged by the auctioneer.

Julia was also the auctioneer for the previous Colt record of $480,000.

The gun was an heirloom passed down from John McBride's great-great-uncle. The 80-year-old from Montana says some of the money will be used to buy land in that state.
Wish I had a great-great uncle who collected Colt pistols.

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