3028

Western Lawman & Gunfighter Elfego Baca Colt 1860 Army Conversion Revolver [151228]

Currency:USD Category:Firearms & Military Start Price:10,000.00 USD Estimated At:20,000.00 - 25,000.00 USD
Western Lawman & Gunfighter Elfego Baca Colt 1860 Army Conversion Revolver [151228]
SOLD
11,000.00USD+ (2,420.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2022 Jul 23 @ 08:35UTC-7 : PDT/MST
SHIPPING & HANDLING: The customer is responsible for all shipping and packaging charges. We offer shipping service as a convenience to our buyers. Items are not shipped until the invoice and shipping charges are completely paid. Shipping costs will be calculated and billed separately after your items have been paid for. Purchases will be shipped via our approved, insured carriers: FedEx, UPS, USPS or DHL. Pick up is available from our Reno office, once you have received your invoice post auction
There's an old saying: "If a man has only one gun, chances are he knows how to use it". Such is the case with Elfego Baca's 1860 Army Colt revolver with a Richards conversion. Baca carried this revolver well into the cartridge age as an infamous sheriff in New Mexico.

BIOGRAPHY OF BACA

Elfego Baca (1865-1945) was born in Soccoro, New Mexico to Francisco and Juana Maria Baca. In 1880, after the death of his mother, he moved to Belen, NM with his father, and his father became a town marshal. In 1884, at the age of 19, Baca became a deputy sheriff for Soccoro County.

Elfego claims to have known and once rode with Billy the Kid from Soccoro to Albuquerque when he was 16 and Billy the Kid was 17. (Detailed story in the book included in this lot).

FRISCO GUNFIGHT

In 1884, Baca was notified that drunken cowboys were terrorizing the town of Reserve. He went there and arrested cowboy Charlie McCarty. On December 1st, McCarty's cowboy friends attempted to free him from custody, and a great Old West gunfight ensued.

As with any Western gunfight, exact details are hard to verify. But possibly 80 cowboys fired 4,000 rounds into an adobe shack where Baca was hiding. Amazingly, Baca was not wounded, but did return fire, killing four of the cowboys, and wounding eight others. The gunfight lasted 36 hours.

McCarty served his time in jail for disturbing the peace and drunkenness. His cowboy comrades pursued Baca through legal means, attempting to have him imprisoned for the 4 dead cowboys. In May 1885, Baca was indicted for the killing of one of the men, but he was acquitted.

LATER YEARS

Afterwards, Baca officially became the sheriff of Socorro County. In 1888, he became a US Marshal. In the 1890s, he went on to become a licensed attorney, serving in New Mexico and then El Paso. He served a number of public offices, including county clerk, mayor and school superintendent of Socorro County and district attorney for Socorro and Sierra counties.

Baca defended Jose Ines Salazar, a leading Orozquista General in the Mexican Revolution who later fought with Pancho Villa. In April 1915, Baca was charged with criminal conspiracy for allegedly masterminding Salazar's November 1914 from the Albuquerque jail.

In the late 1950s, Walt Disney turned Baca into the first Hispanic popular culture hero in the United States by creating a television miniseries ("The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca"), comic book series, and a feature film. They presented Baca as a generalized Western hero, portraying him as "a New Mexican Davy Crockett."

His biographer summed up this complicated lawmen as follows: "Elfego was, and is, controversial. He drank too much; talked too much ... he had a weakness for wild women. He was often arrogant and, of course, he showed no compunction about killing people."

THE REVOLVER

1860 Army Colt revolver with a Richards conversion.

This one carries nine hash marks on the left side of the grips. Evidently nine Hombres found justice before redemption; the trial was not lengthy. The barrel is at 5 1/2 in. with an ejector rod. A half-moon ejector head pivots to eject empty brass. S/N 197897 is visible on the trigger-guard, backstrap bottom and on the cylinder. The barrel has a bright bore and no pitting. The Richards conversion includes the loading gate with matching S/N 7897.

This gun is accompanied by the book: "Law and Order Ltd. The Rousing life of Elfego Baca by Kyle S. Crichton" hardcover with DJ, first edition 1928, numbered #52, autographed by the author and by Elfego Baca, 219 pg.

PROVENANCE
Purchased from the 1948 Baca estate sale (letter included). Jim & Barbara Sherman Private Western Mining Museum

**This gun is an antique and no attempt has been made to fire this gun to confirm its mechanical integrity. Nor should this gun be fired without the examination by a qualified gunsmith. Any attempt to fire an antique is at the risk of the owner and not consistent with the value of the firearm. No sales to New York City, New Jersey, California, and Hawaii. No FFL required.**

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Provenance: Jim & Barbara Sherman Private Western Mining Museum