North American Auction Company
Live Auction

Native & Western: Fine Beadwork, Navajo Rugs & Cowboy Collection

Sat, Oct 10, 2026 11:00AM EDT
  2026-10-10 11:00:00 2026-10-10 11:00:00 America/New_York North American Auction Company North American Auction Company : Native & Western: Fine Beadwork, Navajo Rugs & Cowboy Collection https://live.naabid.com/auctions/north-american-auction/native-western-fine-beadwork-navajo-rugs-cowboy-collection-25189
Join North American Auction Company on October 10th for our Native & Western: Fine Beadwork, Navajo Rugs & Cowboy Collection Auction. The collection includes a fine early Native American Beadwork collection, early and historic Native American Weapons, fine Western Firearms, Western Art, Navajo Jewelry, Cowboy Parade Saddles and more. Visit Live.Naabid.com
North American Auction Company tucker@naabid.com
Lot 74

Colt Single Action Army 45 Cal. -1887 Victor Ario

Estimate: $3,500 - $7,500
Starting Bid
$500

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$50 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$25,000 $2,500
$100,000 $5,000
This is an original and high condition Colt Single Action Army Model 1873 1st Generation Revolver in .45 caliber owned by Victor Ario Great Falls, Montana; in high condition for its early age. The revolver has a serial number of 123154 and was manufactured by Colt in 1887. Owned by Victor Ario (1871-1959) of Great Falls, Montana, an iconic early Montana saddle maker. The revolver shows high condition with matching numbers. Provenance: Identified as being owned by Victor Ario of Victor Ario Saddlery in Great Falls, Montana by renowned Antiques Roadshow expert Tim Gordon. The firearm appears to be all original in high condition showing a deep blue finished barrel and cylinder, backstrap / trigger guard frame and beautiful original case hardened colored frame / loading gate and trigger. Colt 4 ¾-inch barrelThe original one piece solid hardwood Walnut Colt grips are still present, marked on the inside of the grips with the Colt factory fountain pen mark of the last four serial numbers of “3154”, which have been hand carved with a diamond checkering finish on both sides. Marked on the top of the barrel in a two-line address, “COLT’S PT. F.A. MFG. Co. HARTFORD, CT. U.S.A.” and “45” on the underside of the barrel under the cylinder rod. The receiver is stamped, “PAT. SEPT. 19. 1871. “ JULY. 2. -72. “ JAN. 19. -75.”, inside under the hammer “P” and on the bottom “123154”. The loading gate has an assembly number of 374 stamped on the inside. The bottom of the backstrap and trigger guard are both stamped “123154”. The trigger guard is stamped on the left side “45 CAL”. Cylinder is stamped “S” and possibly “N”, inspector marks. The frame shows a good amount of the rainbow case coloring from Colt, the rainbow case coloring can also still be seen on the trigger. The barrel, trigger guard and grip backstrap have a deep mirror like blue finish with much shown. Truly a beautiful example. Serial number 123154, manufactured in 1887. ANTIQUE FIREARM NO FFL. The Colt Single Action Army was also known as the Colt SAA, Colt Model 1873, Colt M1873, Colt Model P, Colt Peacemaker, and Colt Frontier, was a single-action revolver designed for the U.S. government service revolver trials of 1872 by Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company and was adopted as the standard-issue revolver of the U.S. Army from 1873 to 1892. The revolver was dubbed the "Peacemaker", and is a famous piece of Americana and the American Wild West era, due to its popularity with ranchers, lawmen, and outlaws alike. Victor Ario of Great Falls, Montana was born in Austria in 1871 and was raised among the hard-riding horsemen of the Hungarian Plains, later he arrived in Great Falls when he was 19 years old. Victor Ario want to work for the shop of JB Steffen, one of the first saddle makers in the Great Falls area, which he subsequently purchased in partnership with Tom Moreland of Helena in 1897. He bought out Moreland in 1903 establishing the Victor Ario Saddlery Company. Ario hired the finest craftsmen and groomed his own son, Keith, to help the Ario Saddlery become a permanent fixture in Great Falls and prominent throughout the North Plains area.

All items will ship at our North American Auction Company in-house shipping department. Please allow up to 14-21 days after a complete invoice payment is made to package and ship your purchase. After you are notified of your winning bids from our company and your item invoice is paid in full our new shipping department will contact you. Make sure when signing up with our company that your preferred shipping information is up to date as this information will be used to estimate shipping cost. Once the items have been packaged our team will contact you for shipping payment. Shipping invoices and payment will be completely separately than the items invoice. Please notify the shipping department with any alternate request or instructions at mark@naabid.com or 800-686-4216 ext. 3. For a shipping quote please contact the same information above. PLEASE NOTE a shipping quote price can fluctuate in price. Auction company is not responsible for actual shipping cost being higher than quoted shipping cost. Thank you for trusting North American Auction Co. with your bids and shipping. As our shipping department is brand new please understand that delays can be expected.