Colt SAA - Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum Gala Revolver - Master Engraved

Number one. That's the detail that pulls this Colt Single Action Army out of every other presentation piece you'll ever handle. It was the first revolver done for a museum benefit by Alvin A. White since his Metropolitan Museum of Art Single Action Army for the 1985 Christie's auction, and the gold inlaid numeral on the frame bottom marks it as the very first Gala Special Colt for the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, dated November 18, 1991.

White worked it in his cowboy-style scroll over a deep royal blue. The coverage runs everywhere. Barrel, frame, cylinder, loading gate, ejector rod housing, hammer, and backstrap all carry cut scroll against a punched dot background, with the hammer spur faceted and checkered by hand. Look closely at the cylinder and you'll find it uniquely fluted with four flutes instead of the customary six, a White touch you won't see on a standard SAA.

The gold tells the story. A relief gold and silver cowboy on his horse fills one cylinder panel, a gold Stetson hat sits on the other, and the recoil shield carries a flush gold Gala eagle riding above engraved terrain. Down the left side of the barrel, White laid in a flush gold depiction of the museum building itself, the kind of architectural inlay that almost never shows up on a presentation Colt. The barrel address, patent dates, and rampant colt are all gold, and gold bands wrap the muzzle and breech.

Mother-of-pearl grips finish it, their iridescence playing hard against the blue and gold. The piece comes in its red leather presentation case with gold-tooled borders and the engraved plaque, an R.L. Wilson letter detailing every cut, and a Colt factory archive letter. White was the most decorated American arms engraver of the last century, with work done for five U.S. presidents. This is the one that started the Autry series.