The Colt Colt Walker 1847 B Company Ser. 97796 is a Antique first produced in 1847. It carries a scarcity score of 98/100 based on tracked survey data, with 4 active listings currently on the secondary market and a global benchmark price of $274,147.
The Colt Walker is a massive .44-caliber percussion revolver co-developed by Samuel Colt and Captain Samuel Walker of the Texas Rangers, designed in 1847 to give mounted troops fighting in the Mexican-American War a powerful sidearm capable of stopping both men and horses, at a time when Colt was seeking to revive his struggling arms business after his original Paterson-era company had failed. Only a limited run of about one thousand Walkers was produced under Colt's initial U.S. government contract, split among companies designated by letter, with the revolver's substantial weight and six-shot cylinder making it, at the time, the most powerful production handgun in the world, a distinction it would hold for decades. The Walker's success helped Colt secure further military contracts and re-establish the manufacturing operation that would grow into one of America's most significant arms companies. Surviving examples from this original 1847 contract production are exceptionally rare, with only a small fraction believed to remain in any collectible condition today.