value of colt revolver

bullhauler

Was wondering about the value of a colt model 1917 d/a revolver. had posted a topic on the same gun earlier but only had some info on gun from my friend. after talking to his father i now have all my facts. the gun is a nickel plated colt model 1917 with the markings colt model 1917 45 auto ctge on the barrel. barrel is 5 1/2 inch tapered and the gun has wood grips with colt medallions in them. the gun was a military issue that was restored by colt a few years to its original condition. nothing including the finish has been altered and according to colt the gun was restored using original parts from the time period when the gun was manufactured. the gun must be rare because he said colt called every day they had it telling him to name his price for the gun.

JudgeColt

I am confused by the information you have furnished. The M1917 is not a rare revolver. There were 151,700 made for the military. The rare guns are the ones made from leftover military parts circa 1932 and sold on the commercial market. Only about 1,000 of those were made, so they are relatively rare. No M1917 was nickel plated. I cannot understand why anyone at Colt would call asking to buy a revolver far from rare with non-original finish. Even if the reovlver were the rare commercial version, the nickel finish would ruin most of its value.Your friend may have been a victum of the "let's pull this guy's chain" game where some people think it is fun to try to get a gun owner to name a price just to see what he or she will say. "Would you take $3000 for your gun? Would you take $4000, etc." When the owner finally says yes to some ridiculous figure, the perpetrator gets a good laugh.After posting the above, I notice that you also say the revolver has medalion grips as well. That is another non-original item, unless the revolver is a commercial. The grips should be plain wood, with no checkering or medalion on the military M1917.I would guess that the medalion grips were added when the military revolver was refinished in nickel. [This message has been edited by JudgeColt (edited 11-21-2001).]

nmyers@home.com

So, the answer to your question is: "Not very much."Unique items are difficult to price. I would guess that your revolver would sell in the $150-$250 range.Neal