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RARE & FINE CONFEDERATE DANCE DRAGOON REVOLVER W/

Currency:USD Category:Firearms & Military Start Price:25,000.00 USD Estimated At:50,000.00 - 60,000.00 USD
RARE & FINE CONFEDERATE DANCE DRAGOON REVOLVER W/
GREAT PROVENANCE. Cal. 44. S# 321. This fine Dance revolver is among the highest serial numbers known. It is complete, original & matching. It ranks among the top 20% of all Dance Dragoons. It is the finest survivor of the late guns made w/ iron backstraps instead of brass. It also has wonderful Texas collection history & pictured on cover of The Texas Gun Collector, August 1953. Early Texas collector Bob Fowler relates a most interesting story dating history of this exact gun to robbery in Mertens, TX about 1880-1890 wherein this gun was used by the robber who was killed in a subsequent gun fight. Fowler’s letter is linked in provenance & should be read. “Dance revolver production had come to an end in East Columbia, TX by December 10, 1863. The federal occupation of Matagorda Island, located just off the Texas coast near Brazoria County, prompted the belief that the county was about to be invaded. The Confederate government doubtless wanted to consolidate the Dances' skills farther inland & out of harm's way. The Dances relocated to a site three miles north of Anderson in Grimes County, & here the Confederate government built a powder mill & pistol factory where this revolver was made in 1864.” (Gary Wiggins, Dance & Brothers, Texas Gunmakers of the Confederacy, 1986). Revolver is in standard configuration w/ 8” octagonal to round bbl., made without recoil shields. The revolver is serial numbered “321” everywhere normally numbered bbl., frame, cylinder, loading arm, plunger, latch, wedge, arbor, hammer, & grips. Aesthetically, this is a very pleasing example of classic Dance Dragoon revolver & few have such extensive Texas history. CONDITION: good to very good overall, complete & matching. Metal has gray iron patina w/ pitting. Serial number markings all easily discerned. Grips are well fit w/ erosion & chipping on butt, several notches cut on bottom of right grip. Mechanically functional but mainspring is weak, well-defined rifled bore. PROVENANCE: Bob Fowler, Waxahachie, TX 1948; ex-collection Eldon Hyder, Ft. Worth, TX; ex-collection Leo Brad shaw, Waco, TX; ex-collection John Lignau, Westphalia, TX 1976. (01-18456/JS). ANTIQUE. $50,000-60,000.