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Thread: If you want to find the history of your Colt

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  1. #1
    Join Date
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    If you want to find the history of your Colt

    This is the address to contact:

    Kathy Hoyt
    Colt Historian
    P.O. Box 1868
    Hartford, CT 06144-1868
    Phone: 800-962-2658

    For your convenience!
    John Caradimas SV1CEC
    The M1911 Pistols Organization
    http://www.m1911.org

  2. #2
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    S&W will "letter" your old veteran too, for a fee ($25 US, as I recall).

    Is the Colt service free? (HAH! as if....)
    The older I get...
    ...the better I was

  3. #3
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    What does Colt charge for your pistol's heritage?

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by mpmax
    What does Colt charge for your pistol's heritage?
    The price (and the address) is on their web site at www.coltsmfg.com. I am not certain, but my recollection is they charge $100 for a letter of authenticity. Depending on the pistol, the letter might (or might not) add that much to its value.
    Hawkmoon
    On a good day, can hit the broad side of a barn ... from the inside

  5. #5
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    wow it is much more pricey than the s&w authenticity letter

  6. #6
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    Actually, I think S&W charges $30 for the letter. Not much except for a couple of sentences about the guns, in them, though. More model history than indivigual gun history?
    Life member NRA, Life member ISRA, Life member USPSA

  7. #7
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    A basic Colt letter is $100.00, if the gun has added fetures, light engraving, ivory grips and such, price is up to $200.00, if it`s master engraved it`s now $300.00..$30.00 for a S&W letter, but the S&W letter is pretty basic..
    I don`t think the Colt letter is worth $300.00

  8. #8
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    Colt Letter

    If the letter authenticates the engraving as having been done at Colt, the $300 is a bargain with the more popular models of Colt with factory engraving starting in the $10,000 range. Non-factory engraving just ruins a good firearm.

  9. #9
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    Johnny..so I guess what your telling me is..if Alvin White engraved my Colt while sitting at the Colt factory it`s good..But if he engraved it in his own studio it`s ruined ???
    I think the point I was trying too make is, if you look up the history of a firearm to make up a letter, why should the contents of the letter raise the price ??
    Last edited by gunny6; 14th April 2006 at 14:15.


  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by gunny6
    I don`t think the Colt letter is worth $300.00
    While I think Colt is taking advantage by charging different prices for their letter, my reply addressed the fact that a letter authenticating a rare feature sure adds more value than the $300 charged if the pistol was factory engraved.
    The market today is driven by originality and condition. I don't know anything about your pistol, but if it was engraved after it left the factory is has no where near the value of one engraved prior to shipment. Alvin White engraving is well respected, and would certainly increase the value of your 70 Series Colt, but no where near what it would be if factory engraved.
    In Shreveport, Louisiana there is a private gallery that has many Remington and Russell paintings and bronzes, early American silver, and a small gun collection. Mr. Norton that collected the art work and the guns admired the work of E. C. Prudhomme, and had many of his pistols engraved by Mr. Prudhomme. One of the pistols Mr. Norton had engraved by Mr. Prudhomme is an 1893 Borchardt. Most Borchardts fall into the $15,000 to $25,000 price range, but with the engraving the value is cut by 50% or more. It was Mr. Norton's pistol to do with as he saw fit, but it certainly ruined a nice collector's pistol.
    The pistol shown is plain jane, but worth much more than if some previous owner had decided to have it engraved.



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