Colt Cylinder Engraving

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Engraved Cylinders: This handbill shows three of the scenes engraved on Colt Cylinders. The rolling dies used to "engrave" the cylinders were created by Waterman Lily Ormsby, and served as a way to identify a revolver as genuine Colt. Creating such a die was expensive, and something very difficult to replicate by a shop creating counterfeit "Colts". The scene varied from model to model, and while the scenes are well documented, a detailed illustration of some of the scenes couldn't be found on the web.

Centaur Cylinder Engraving. Photo Source: Click here.

Early Pocket and Belt Model Paterson Revolvers: All of Colt’s cylinder scenes were created by engraver Waterman Lilly Ormsby, depict variations of what is known as the Centaur Cylinder Scene (depending on the size of the revolver’s cylinder), which shows a centaur shooting two horsemen with a revolver. 

Rolling Dies: I also found the die used to create the scene on the Paterson revolvers. The centaur was used on the smaller Models 2 and 3 belt pistols, while the larger Model 5 used a scene similar to the Stagecoach Scene found on the later 1848 Baby Dragoon and 1849 Pocket Model revolvers.

Patterson Centaur Dies. Image Source: Click here.

Rated by authority R.L. Wilson as the rarest of all Colt collectibles ever to be offered, these Paterson Roll dies are some of the very few tools manufactured at the Patent Arms Factory for the production of the Paterson Revolver. It was Ormsby himself who convinced Samuel Colt to have the cylinders engraved to prevent counterfeiting of Colt's new firearms. This relationship between Colt and Ormsby lasted from the creation of the Paterson pistol until the conclusion of the production of the 1972 Open Top revolver when the process of roll marking Colt cylinders was discontinued.

Colt Paterson Model 5: The Model 5 was the .36 caliber version of the Paterson, and sported the Stagecoach Scene found on the later Pocket Revolvers. Despite the fact that stagecoach robberies were not a major problem at the time, Sam Colt played on the public’s fear of the possibility of such crimes, Colt cleverly adapted variations of this Stagecoach Scene on the later-production 1848 Baby Dragoon Model, all 1849 Pocket Models, up through certain 1855 Root Sidehammer revolvers, and the 1862 Pocket Navies. Refer to the 1848 and 1849 Pocket Revolvers.

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Walkers And Dragoons: The massive .44 bore Walker model of 1847, the early .31-caliber 1848 Pocket Revolver and the later full-sized .44 Dragoons all utilized a panoramic view of what is popularly called the Ranger and Indian Scene. Here, mounted dragoons and Indians are engaged in a running skirmish, although the Baby Dragoon’s image is slightly abbreviated due to its smaller cylinder. This stirring roll engraving pays tribute to an actual fight between Texas Ranger Captain Jack Hays and his Rangers, and Comanche Indians. This portrayal was added in honor of Hays and his Texians, whose effective use of Samuel Colt’s Paterson revolvers were so important in the development of his arms. Legend has it that the picture is supposed to represent the fight between Hays’ Rangers and Comanches at Enchanted Rock, near present-day Fredericksburg, Texas, despite the rangers wearing stylish U.S. Dragoon-style uniforms, when, according to period accounts, they were most likely dressed in frontier civilian attire.

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1848, 1849 Pocket Revolvers: These pocket revolvers depicted a stagecoach holdup being thwarted by passenger who were thankfully carrying Colt revolvers. While evidence points to the relative rarity of such events, such fears was used to promote the revolvers.

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1851 Navy and 1860 Army Revolvers: Interestingly, Colt’s 1851 Navy revolver, their 1860 Army Model and the 1861 Navy Model, all sport cylinder scenes of a naval conflict. If you look closely at the cylinders, you’ll find the legend “Engaged 16 May 1843,” along with the flags of the young Texas Republic and the early Mexican colors flying from the ships’ masts. This date, along with the nautical imagery, represents a seaborne battle in which Texas’s Commodore Edwin Ward Moore defeated a superior (in both number of ships and their size) fleet of Mexican warships—a crucial event in Texas’s struggle for independence. This naval scene was another shrewd move on the part of Colonel* Sam, since he was purposely catering to the Texas market that had been so prosperous for him in the past. Ironically, the opposing parties in this watery engagement never got close enough to each other to use any of Colt’s revolvers. But why ruin the beauty of a thing with the truth? 

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1855 Colt Root Model Revolver: Colt made a side-hammer revolver based on designs by Colt engineer  Elisha K. Root (1808–1865). The Cabin And Indian Scene was engraved on the cylinders.

Only one model of the revolver was produced. Two calibers for the revolver were: .28 and .31. The production of the revolver started in 1855 and lasted until 1870. The Sidehammer revolver was never a popular revolver. It appeared to have one advocate. This is a photograph of a young George Armstrong Custer holding a Root Model Colt.

As a side note, the Root patent would be applied to other Colt firearms, including a revolving rifle that found favor with Berdan's Sharpshooters for a time. While a revolving rifle could allow a sniper to fire five shots without stopping to reload, the rifle had a bad habit of "cooking off", or firing all five bullets at once, when the cylinder got too hot from repeated firing.

I find it interesting that in my collection of Italian replicas of these Colt revolvers, the manufactures have gone to great lengths to duplicate the cylinder engravings. It is also interesting that it was so difficult to find good print samples of the engraved scenes.

*Several prominent newspapers consequently labeled Colt a traitor to the Union. To combat this perception, the State of Connecticut commissioned Colt as a colonel, which is why you’ll sometimes see him referred to as Colonel Sam Colt. It was largely a PR stunt and he was discharged a couple months later, yet the moniker lived on.

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