Turnbull, Colt Factory or Just Leave It?
Hello. I am looking for opinions from my peers and any advanced collectors wishing to offer advice. I have an original Colt SAA made in 1884 that letters with very good provenance. Currently the Colt is in original condition. The backstrap and the one piece grip are not original to the pistol as manufactured but are period correct. All other parts are original as manufactured. Little finish remains on the revolver as it has turned to mostly a light smoke gray color. The metal and bore are very good with little to no pitting. My question is, do I send it to Turnbull or back to the Colt Factory to have the Colt restored or keep it as it is? Which will achieve the greatest investment value and possibly resale value? I do not have any plans on parting with it anytime soon, but I want to make it an investment Colt. As I am a relatively new Colt collector, can you offer your advice? Turnbull starts at $3400 and Colt has yet to quote a price for a complete restoration. Is it worth it, or will it deminish the already existing value of being nearly all original? Thank you in advance for the advice and opinions.
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I am not a collector or restorer, but I think you could take your $2000 gun and pay Mr Turnbull $3400 to have a $3000 gun. He will disagree, of course, but he is the one getting the $3400.
I saw pictures of a 1911 that had been sent to Colt for "restoration."
It got a nice factory refinish but it was clearly a refinish with current production polish and blue. It did not look like it came out of the factory originally.0 -
Shooter here. I would enjoy it as it is. I doubt that you would ever recover the money invested in a refinish and you then would be less inclined to shoot or handle. 0 -
James hit the nail on the head, original original original is the key to any investment firearm value.
W.D.0 -
I would leave it as is, especially depending on the provenance. If it is a military calvary model, especially. You never did mention what provenance it has, and do you have a Colt letter for it?
Best
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Still have not heard back with the provenance???
As has been stated by several, once it has lost its originality, it is gone forever. If it can be lettered by Colt, that it has been rebuilt, with mixed matched pieces, and continue the provenance, then it is more valuable like it is.
As for Turnbull, there are I see many basher's on his work, being spendy. For those of you that have actually had his work in your hands, know why it is spendy. For those who have just seen pictures, yes the pictures are indicative, but show not any justice. His work is second to NONE, although much of it is waay more colorful, than things were 100 plus years ago. If you can, actually handle the workings from Doug Turnbull's shop, and you will, too, know why his work is costly.
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Hawk Carse said it dollar-wise. Turnbulls would turn out a beautiful job, an expensive ego trip.
I have had several Colt 1902 & '05 automatic jobs done by Turnbulls that I did my own prep on, they replaced lettering and blue @ about $500 per gun. Then I considered sending my 1870s pretty good old 7.5" SAA similar to your situation. Abandoned the idea when I figured out my now worth $4K would come back a beautiful non-original, lost character, better than like new, 1870s SAA worth maybe the same $4K. For the same money I can probably buy someone else's ego trip.
I'll keep it as-is:
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Turnbull will do beautiful work and you will never, ever get your money back out of it. Leave it just as it is. 0 -
I have to agree with the others, and say leave it as is. I sounds like it's condition is simlar to the one in the picture that rhmc24 put up. There is nothing wrong with the way that old pistol looks. Those old cannons have a salty look that says "this ain't my first rodeo". 0 -
I concur with those who say leave it as it is. An owner in the future can have it refinished (restored if you prefer) to make it look new if he/she wants to spend their money. 0 -
Unless you have an artillery model, and have documentation that it was worked into the artillery model in 1898*, then the fact that the backstrap isn't original to the gun blows it.
The gun in question will catch the interest of a starting collector, not a high-end collector. Best, Joe
*Old, worn out Colts in gov't inventory that were sent back for emergency re-work during the startup of the Spanish American war, and were re-assembled without regard to matching parts. This type of mis-match is not looked down upon by high end collectors, as they represent authentic to peroid equipment issue.0 -
Turnbull does fine work, but he's still not Colt. That means that no matter how fine, whatever he does to it is going to be 'non-factory'. It's goodbye to the originality of the piece, permanently.
For your heirs, 'Turnbull' may end up having a meaning only to a very few knowledgeable people, where 'Colt Original' will continue to have a lot of meaning to anybody.0
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