Colt 1877 Lightning "Senator FORD"
Cased
colt 1877 Lightning revolver, RARE 6 INCH. collection of senator FORD.
Superior
english leather case. Inside resellers label is from Adams Military sporting
arms. The lid has a brass inlay attributing this one to Seymour Le Marchand, a
member of the ROYAL GUERNSY light infantry militia. Needs some reseach. Case is
in excellent shape having all the original felt showing some mottholes. Contains
the original oiler, screwdriver and cleaningrod.
Here
some info about the MARCHANT family
John
Gaspard Le Marchant was born on 9 February, 1766, in Amiens, France, at the
family home of his maternal grandfather, Count Heinrich Justus Hirzel de St
Gratien; wealthy women seem always to have returned to their parental homes to
give birth to their first child or two, even if this required debilitating
amounts of travel over land or sea. The Count’s family were Protestant,
originating in Switzerland, and acquired the French element of their title
through marriage. He himself was a distinguished officer in the French army and
John Gaspard received the name of one of his ancestors, the Huguenot commander
Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, which he seems to have used as his chosen name, at
least as a young man; but Guernseymen in public life in Britain often opted to
anglicise their names, rather than be suspected of having sympathies with the
French.
John
Gaspard’s father was John Le Marchant, son of the Lieutenant-Bailiff of
Guernsey. His father had been one of the first Guernseymen to hold a commission
in the army. His mother, [Marie] Catherine Hirzel, was fairly well-off and they
had houses in Bath, High Street, Guernsey, and at 10, Hanover
Square in
London; this last had been left to her by her aunt, Margaret Hirzel, who, as the
wife of Thomas Le Marchant, had been the first to marry into the Le Marchant
family.* Gaspard had a younger brother, James, who unfortunately did not turn
out quite as well. Of Gaspard’s school career in Exeter, his headmaster would
only say that he could not remember a greater dunce. He was then tutored at home
until at sixteen he became determined to join the army, ending up in the 1st
Regiment of Foot in Gibraltar, where there was little to do, giving him time to
develop his talent for watercolour painting.
He was
well-known then for his hot temper, which, as he later told his son, Denis, he
became determined to master, having become embroiled in a duel. He caught yellow
fever, for which Gibraltar was notorious, and was sent to convalesce back in
Guernsey, where he began to court Mary 'Polly' Carey, his neighbour, daughter of
jurat and landowner Jean Carey of La Bigoterie in St Peter Port.1
R. H.
Thoumine in his definitive biography2 quotes from The Guernsey Florist, a verse
written by one of their acquaintances, which refers to his bad temper:
Photos Littlegun
Colt 1877 Lightning
Colt Lightning double action sheriffs model fitted with the extremely rare one piece gutta percha grips.
These one piece grips were used between serial 200 and roughly 3300, but most of these serials had rosewood grips.
Photos Littlegun
Colt 1877 Lightning
Colt 1877 Lightning
This revolver was made from 1877 through 1910 with a total quantity of 166,000. The serial number 1601XX appears in three places on the gun. The caliber is 38 Colt and the barrel length is 4 & 1/2 inches.
Colt 1877 Lightning
Cal .38
Many thanks to LEO for the photos
Colt 1877 Lightning
Thunderer cal. 41
Many thanks to LEO for the photos
