I had it evaluated by a local shop that was recommended as being knowledgeable. According to them it's legit and completely unmolested except for where someone had the barrel in a vise to bang on the front sight. It's also in perfect mechanical condition. He evaluated the finish as 40%. The dude spent 40 minutes looking at it. Lots of "Oh, wow" and "holy crap" comments. According to them, it's pretty cool. I'm in negotiations with the buyer over the price. I'm looking forward to loading up some powder puff loads for it and giving it a whirl.

It's pretty darn cool to hold a cowboy gun in your hands that was around back when the only forms of transportation were trains, horses, and shoe leather. If I can get the seller to part with it at a reasonable price I'll send off to Colt for one of their letters. I guess they're worth more if they originally shipped somewhere out west vs New Jersey or whatever.

This is going to force me to buy a lever gun to go with it. I wonder if I can find one made the same year...