Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company Colt firearm gun stock certificate

Description

Old Stock Yard Collectible Stock and Bond Certificates
Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company
Original certificate
Offered as a collectible only; the certificate has been canceled and is non-redeemable/non-transferable - there is no financial value
1940s - Hartford, Connecticut
Attractive certificate with ornate company seal and beautiful vignette
Would look great framed and on the wall!
More information about Colt:
Colt's Manufacturing Company (CMC, formerly Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company)
is a United States firearms manufacturer originally founded in 1836. It is best known for the engineering, production, and marketing of dozens of different firearms over the later half of the 19th and the 20th century. It has made many civilian and military designs used in the United States, as well was many other countries.
Among the most famous colt products are the Walker Colt, used by the United States Mounted Rifles in the Mexican-American War, and the "Colt .45" revolver, the proper name of which is the Single Action Army or Peacemaker. Later well-known CMC revolvers include the Colt Python and Colt Anaconda. John Browning also worked for Colt for a time, and came up with now ubiquitous parallel slide type of design for a pistol, which debuted on the Colt M1900 pistol, leading to numerous pistol designs including the famous Colt M1911 pistol. Though they did not develop it, for a long time Colt was primarily responsible for the M16 rifle production, as well as of many derivative firearms. The most successful and famous of these are numerous M16 carbines, including the Colt Commando family, and the M4 carbine.
Colt also developed many important less known firearms that were often ahead of their time. Among the most recent was the CAR-15 family–an innovative weapon system family of the 1960s, as well as a number of 5.56 mm machine guns such as the Colt CMG-1, CMG-2 in the 60s in the 70s. They also invented the Colt SCAMP PDW, a little known firearm of the late 1970s that was among the first of its type. Colt's produced also the first 15 000 Thompson Submachineguns Mod 1921. Another important design was the lesser-known Colt-Browning Model 1895 (Potato Digger) - one of the first gas-actuated machine guns. Going back even farther reveals other important products of the 19th century. The Colt Revolver Rifle, one of the first repeating rifles, and used during the American Civil War. In addition to this were a large number of famous revolvers, such as the 1847 Colt Walker, the smaller Dragoon Mod. 1848 of the same caliber .44, the Navy Mod. 1851 cal .36, the Pocket Mod. 1849 cal .31 and numerous other famous revolvers of the 'Wild West'. His designs played a major role in the popularization of the revolver and the shift away from earlier single pistols and pepperbox type weapons. While Colt did not invent the revolver concept, his designs resulted in the first very successful ones with patents on many of the features that lead to them being so popular.
In 2002, Colt Defense was split off from Colt's Manufacturing Company. Colt Manufacturing Company now serves the civilian market, while Colt Defense serves the law enforcement, military, and private security markets worldwide. Prior to the split Colt was also well known for their production (now taken over by Colt Defense) of the M1911 semi-automatic pistols, M4 carbines, M16 assault rifles, and M203 grenade launchers, although none of these were Colt designs, excepting the M1911 . Diemaco of Canada was also purchased, and renamed Colt Canada, though most of its products remain the same. Diemaco and Colt had earlier worked together on designs and shared many similar products.
1836–1911
CMC was founded in Hartford, Connecticut in 1836 by Samuel Colt in order to produce revolvers, of which Colt held the patent, during the Mexican-American War.[1] Colt's earlier venture, the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company, had declared bankruptcy in 1842 and was no longer producing firearms, but the efficiency of the Colt Paterson revolver design had become apparent to the Texas Rangers, and they placed an order for 1,000 larger revolvers that became known as the Walker Colt, ensuring Colt's re-entry into manufacturing revolvers. Later, the U.S. Army also sought out the young entrepreneur to produce even more revolvers.
Colt's early history largely revolved around the production of revolvers, developed out of Sam Colt's groundbreaking 1834 design. Colt is perhaps best known for the famous "Colt .45", a name which actually refers to four separate historically significant firearms (detailed below). Colt was one of the early influential companies in the race to successfully create a product with interchangeable parts. At London's Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851, a Colt exhibit disassembled ten guns and reassembled ten guns using different parts from different guns. It took many more years (which saw a commission by the UK government that cast doubt on Colt's abilities) before the point became universally accepted that such manufacture was possible or economical.
Colt's armories in Hartford were seminal training grounds for several generations of toolmakers and other machinists, who had great influence in other manufacturing efforts of the next half century. Colt built a new Hartford armory in the mid-1850s, and had various new types of machine tools and other machinery designed for it, such as the Lincoln miller. Colt also built a large armory in London. Though the US was not directly involved in the Crimean War (1854–1856), Colt weapons were used by both sides. The first of the four "Colt .45" models was the aforementioned 1873 Single Action Army, of which Colt was the original producer, and which was one of the most prevalent firearms in the American West during the end of the 19th century. Colt still produces this firearm, in six different calibers, two finishes and three barrel lengths. (Original, good condition first generation Single Action Armies, those produced between 1873 and 1941, are among the most valuable to the collector. Especially valuable, often going for well over ,000, are the Orville W. Ainsworth and the Henry Nettleton inspected U.S. Cavalry Single Action Army Colts.
The second "Colt .45" was the Colt Model of 1878. It was Colt's first large frame double action revolver. It combined the front end of the Single Action Army revolver with a double action 6 shot frame mechanism. It was available commercially in numerous calibers including .45. In 1902 the U.S. Army purchased several thousand of the 1878 revolvers in caliber .45 Colt with an over-sized trigger guard. These were issued by the US Army to the, then new, Philippine Constabulary Corps. Some of them are also believed to have accompanied US troops to Alaska in the early 1900s. For these reasons the 1902 purchase revolvers are sometimes called the Alaskan or Philippine model. Although long obsolete to the US Army these revolvers were still in use in the Philippines when Japan invaded in 1941. The third "Colt .45" was the New Service Double Action revolver. From introduction in 1898 to the beginning of World War II it was a major part of the Colt line. In caliber .45 Colt it was accepted by the U.S. Military as the Model 1909 .45 revolver and replaced the 1873 Single Action revolvers. It primarily differed from the Model 1878 by having a swing out cylinder for faster loading with a new method of ejecting cartridges, and an improved trigger design. The New Service revolver was also available in other calibers such as .38 Special, and later on in the 20th century, .357 Magnum.
One of the first truly modern-style handguns, the Colt revolvers became known as "The Great Equalizer", because they could be loaded and fired by anyone, whereas most previous guns had required sufficient strength and dexterity. In theory, anyone who had a modern-style revolver was equal to anyone else, regardless of their relative physical abilities. This term has since come to be used for firearms in general, as awkward weapons like muzzle-loaded muskets became a thing of the past. The OWA Colt refers to the earliest issued Single Action Armies which were inspected by Orville W. Ainsworth. O.W. Ainsworth was the ordnance sub-inspector at the Colt factory for approximately the first thirteen months (Oct. 1873 to Nov. 1874) of the Single Action Army's production. It was Ainsworth that inspected the Colts used by General Custer's 7th Cavalry troops at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. However General Custer himself fell holding a couple of English-made Webley revolvers in his hands.
Henry Nettleton was the ordnance inspector in 1878 at the Springfield Armory. Second only to the OWA Colts, Nettleton Colts are prized by serious collectors. Both the Nettleton and OWA Colts will have the cartouche (OWA or HN) on the left side of the wood grip. The Single Action Army has been copied by numerous makers both in America and in Europe. The two major makers of Colt replicas are Aldo Uberti in Italy and U.S. Fire Arms Mfg. Co. in Hartford, Connecticut. Under a contract with the U.S. Army Colt Arms built the Model 1895 ten-barrel variant of the Gatling Gun, capable of firing 800-900 .30 Army rounds per minute, and used with great effect at the Battle of San Juan Hill. The M1895 Colt-Browning machine gun or "Potato Digger" was also built by Colt. The Colt-Browning was one of the first gas-operated machine guns, originally invented by John Browning. It became the first automatic machine gun adopted by the United States and saw limited use by the U.S. Marine Corps at the invasion of Guantánamo Bay and by the 1st Volunteer Infantry in the Santiago campaign during the Spanish-American War.
The fourth "Colt .45" was the Colt entry for a U.S. Army standard-issue semi-automatic pistol at the turn of the 20th century. It defeated two other contenders: the .45 Pistol Parabellum (Luger pistol) from DWM and an entry from Savage Arms. There had been many other contenders earlier on, but these were eliminated. The Colt also competed with Colt M1900 design in .38 ACP against other entrants in a 1900 competition that included entries from Mauser. The winner evolved into the famous M1911 pistol chambered in .45 ACP, and would be used by the U.S. military for much of the 20th Century and several major wars; variants in .38 Super and other calibers (even .38 Special), and in other barrel lengths, found use by civilians and in pistol competition.
1911–1984
The fourth famous "Colt 45" is the John Browning-designed M1911, which was the standard U.S. military sidearm from 1911 to 1985. The M1911 is still frequently used by civilians, law enforcement, and military agencies today. Variants in other barrel lengths and other calibers (notably 38 Super and 9 mm) have been used extensively in combat shooting and pistol marksmanship, and the guns often are "accurized" into amazingly precise competition tools or custom combat weapons. During World War I Colt was not able to meet the U.S. military's demand for 1911 production. A decision was then made to accept Colt New Service revolvers in caliber .45 ACP as a substitute weapon. This New Service variant in 45 ACP was called the U.S. Model 1917 revolver. A competing manufacturer, Smith & Wesson, also made double action revolvers in .45 ACP which were also accepted and issued by the U.S. military as Model 1917 revolvers. Extensive use of the 1917 revolvers as well as the 1911 semi-automatic pistol occurred during World War I.
By the end of World War I production of the 1911 had reached high enough numbers so the 1917 revolvers were declared limited standard weapons and large numbers of them were placed in storage until World War II when they again saw service with the US military. Small numbers of the Model 1917 revolvers remained in service within the continental U.S. with the Army's MP Corps until the 1960s. The period between the world wars was marked by increased adoption of Colt revolvers by many police departments. The most popular police caliber was .38 Special. Colt offered a snub-nosed revolver called the Detective Special, and also marketed a longer barreled small frame .38 as the Police Positive. A heavier, but very similar, revolver on a larger frame was the Colt Official Police. These weapons would dominate the US law enforcement market until the 1950s when Smith and Wesson began to aggressively market their own .38 Special design. During World War II, 2 and 4 inch parkerized versions of the .38 Official Police were purchased by the U.S. military for issuance to Defense Plant guards as the Colt Commando revolver.
Since Auto Ordnance had no tooling for production, Colt acquired the license for the Thompson 1921 SMG and made a first batch of 15,000 pieces the first production year. Colt's New Service revolver line remained in production until World War II when a decision was made by Colt to move the machinery outside to the parking lot to make room for higher priority military contract production. There it rusted and the production of this model was never resumed. Civilian models of the New Service had been available in many different barrel lengths and calibers. In the 1930s an adjustable sight version called the Shooting Master with checkered grips was marketed. The end of World War II also saw the end of Colt production of their popular .32 and .380 pocket pistols which had begun in 1903 and 1908 respectively. The U.S. military versions of these pistols was called the Model M. These concealable pistols were purchased by the U.S. military during World War II for usage by couriers, clandestine service operatives, military investigators and were also issued to U.S. Army generals.
The 1960s were boom years for Colt with the escalation of the Vietnam War, Robert McNamara shutting down the Springfield Armory, and the U.S. Army's subsequent adoption of the M16 (to which Colt held the production rights.) Colt would capitalize on this with a range of AR-15 derivative carbines. They also developed AR-15 based Squad Automatic Weapons, and the Colt SCAMP, an early PDW design. The Colt XM148 grenade launcher was created by Colt's Design roject Engineer, gun designer Karl R. Lewis. The May 1967 "Colt's Ink" newsletter announced that he had won a national competition for his selection and treatment of materials in the design. The newsletter stated in part, "In only 47 days, he wrote the specifications, designed the launcher, drew all the original prints, and had a working model built." At the end of the 1970s, there was a program run by the Air Force, to replace the M1911A1. The Beretta 92S won, but this was contested by the Army. The Army ran their own trials, leading eventually to the Beretta 92F being selected as the M9.
1984–1992
The 1980s marked fairly good years for Colt, but the coming end of the Cold War would change all that. Colt had long left innovation in civilian firearms to their competitors, feeling that the handgun business could survive on their traditional double-action revolver and M1911 designs. Instead, Colt focused on the military market, where they held the primary contracts for production of rifles for the US military. This strategy dramatically failed for Colt through a series of events in the 1980s. In 1984, the U.S. military standardized on the Beretta 92F. This was not much of a loss for Colt's current business, as M1911A1 production had stopped in 1945, and most had not been made by Colt at the time. Meanwhile, the military rifle business was growing because the U.S. Military had a major demand for more upgraded M16s, the M16A2 model had just been adopted and the Military needed hundreds of thousands of them.
In 1986, Colt's workers, members of the United Auto Workers went on strike for higher wages. This strike would ultimately last for four years, and was one of the longest running labor strikes in American history. With replacement workers running production, the quality of Colt's firearms began to slip. Dissatisfied with Colt's production, in 1988 the U.S. military awarded the contract for future M16 production to Fabrique Nationale.Some criticized Colt's range of handgun products in the late 1980s as out of touch with the demands of the market, and their once-vaunted reputation for quality had suffered during the UAW strike. Colt's stable of double action revolvers and single action pistols were seen as old fashioned by a marketplace that was captivated by the new generation of "wondernines" - high-capacity, 9x19mm Parabellum caliber handguns, as typified by the Glock 17.
Realizing that the future of the company was at stake, labor and management agreed to end the strike in an arrangement that resulted in Colt being sold to a group of private investors, the State of Connecticut, and the UAW itself. The new Colt first attempted to address some of the demands of the market with the production in 1989 of the Double Eagle, a double action pistol heavily based on the M1911 design which was seen as an attempt to "modernize" the classic Browning design. Colt followed this up in 1992 with the Colt All American 2000, which was unlike any other handgun Colt had produced before. The Colt All American 2000 was a polymer framed, rotary bolt, 9X19mm handgun with a magazine capacity of 15 rounds. It was everything that Colt thought the civilian market wanted in a handgun. Unfortunately, the execution was disastrous. Early models were plagued with inaccuracy and unreliability, and suffered from the poor publicity of having to be recalled. The product launch failed and production of the All American 2000 ended in 1994. The cost of developing Colt's ACR also cut into their bottom line, as none of the ACR contestants were adopted — a result that came out in the early 1990s. All of the above ultimately led to the company's chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1992. Colt Manufacturing Co. announced the termination of its production of double action revolvers in October 1999. - Wikipedia
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