The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - silver-plated triggerguards on Colts?

alpinex · May 16, 2011, 11:24 PM

Been looking alot at the original Colt belt and army pistols (aka Model 1851, 1849, Dragoon, etc) on the auction and antique sale websites and noticed that some models of the originals seem to have "silver" plated triggerguards and backstraps.

That is, what is clean brass on our modern Italian imports, appears to have been silver-plated on alot of the originals.

Now, I've heard that back during the late 1800's/early 1900's it was popular to silver-plate old guns, as I see a whole lot of old worn BP cartridge guns shiney chrome. I've mostly noted the silver on 1851 and 1849 models, but it seems to be lacking on Dragoons.

My question is, was this plating on the brass pieces from the Colt factory, or is this some kind of late-1800's pimp work? If the silver plated brass was original, which models did it appear upon?

May 16, 2011, 11:24 PM	#1
alpinex Junior Member Join Date: May 14, 2009 Location: Northern California Posts: 14	silver-plated triggerguards on Colts? Been looking alot at the original Colt belt and army pistols (aka Model 1851, 1849, Dragoon, etc) on the auction and antique sale websites and noticed that some models of the originals seem to have "silver" plated triggerguards and backstraps. That is, what is clean brass on our modern Italian imports, appears to have been silver-plated on alot of the originals. Now, I've heard that back during the late 1800's/early 1900's it was popular to silver-plate old guns, as I see a whole lot of old worn BP cartridge guns shiney chrome. I've mostly noted the silver on 1851 and 1849 models, but it seems to be lacking on Dragoons. My question is, was this plating on the brass pieces from the Colt factory, or is this some kind of late-1800's pimp work? If the silver plated brass was original, which models did it appear upon? Last edited by alpinex; May 16, 2011 at 11:44 PM.