Any Walker is the ultimate piece in any advanced Colt collection; the Walker Model Revolver is among the most difficult to obtain of all Colt firearms. This revolver is one of 1,000 military contract Walker Model Revolvers manufactured by Samuel Colt at Eli Whitney's factory at Whitneyville, Connecticut. First issued to the U.S. Mounted Rifles in 1847, Walker Model Revolvers saw action in the Mexican War and in subsequent campaigns against the Indian tribes in the Southwest and Pacific Northwest. As a result of this extensive frontier service, the survival rate of Colt Walker Model Revolvers was extremely low; only about 100 examples have been identified in collections. A number of these revolvers are in relic condition. The Colt Walker Model Revolver is significant because it is the first Colt revolver purchased and issued in quantity by the U.S. Army. The Walker Model Revolver established Colt as a viable firm and set the stage for subsequent revolver designs. Colt Walker Model Revolvers are directly linked to the settlement of the American West; the Walker Colts were carried in the Mexican War, in the California Gold Rush and in the settlement of Texas and the Far West during the years before the Civil War. The Colt Walker Model Revolver, probably more than any other Colt firearm, symbolizes the early Western frontier. Colt Walker Model No. 73 is one of an estimated 220 revolvers manufactured with "D COMPANY" markings (the 1,000 military contract Walker Model Revolvers were serial-numbered sequentially with Company A-E with between 120 and 220 revolvers marked for each company). "U.S./1847" (faint) is stamped on the right side of the barrel lug above the barrel wedge slot. The opposite side of the barrel lug is marked "D C Y 73". Traces of the barrel marking remain. Trigger guard is marked "DC 73". The cylinder is marked "D 73." The rear cylinder face and rear of the barrel are marked with the letter "C". "73" is stamped on the arbor pin. The partitioned case contains Eley's cap tin, "COLTS/PATENT" bullet mold, and double face patriotic/military motif powder flask. The included Jackson Arms letter states the loading lever has been altered to Navy type and states the revolver was found in Mexico in 1952, purchased by W.R. Clark who sold the gun to R.R. Riss II, Jackson Arms liquidated Riss' collection in 1956 which included this revolver and sold to J.C. Chance Jr., purchased by Jackson Arms from Chance in 1958 and sold to LaVere A. Gilman in 1958. A second letter states that Gilman sold the revolver to Dick Donaldson, it was consigned to Jim Voulgaris in 1990 and sold in August 1991 "to an estate," and came back to Voulgaris in 1996 to be sold again. Voulgaris also states that the revolver was owned by Clay Fielden "as early as 1952."