COMING IN DECEMBER 2020
RARE & FINE CONFEDERATE DANCE DRAGOON REVOLVER WITH GREAT PROVENANCE.
inv # 01-18456
Cal. 44.
S# 321.
This fine Dance revolver is among the highest serial numbers known. It is complete, original and matching. It ranks among the top 20% of all Dance Dragoons. It is the finest survivor of the late guns made with iron backstraps instead of brass. It also has wonderful Texas collection history and pictured on cover of The Texas Gun Collector, August 1953. Early Texas collector Bob Fowler relates a story dating history of gun to robbery in Mertens, TX about 1880-1890. Fowler’s letter is linked in provenance and should be read.
“Dance revolver production had come to an end in East Columbia, TX by December 10, 1863. The federal occupation of Matagorda Island, located just off the Texas coast near Brazoria County, prompted the belief that the county was about to be invaded. The Confederate government doubtless wanted to consolidate the Dances’ skills farther inland and out of harm’s way. The Dances relocated to a site three miles north of Anderson in Grimes County, and here the Confederate government built a powder mill and pistol factory where this revolver was made in 1864.” (Gary Wiggins, Dance & Brothers, Texas Gunmakers of the Confederacy, 1986)
Revolver is in standard configuration with 8” octagonal to round barrel, made without recoil shields. The revolver is serial numbered “321” everywhere normally numbered barrel, frame, cylinder, loading arm, plunger, latch, wedge, arbor, hammer, and grips. Aesthetically, this is a very pleasing example of classic Dance Dragoon revolver and few have such extensive Texas history.
STATUS: ANTIQUE
