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Stark Museum in Orange currently has an exhibit of very beautiful,mostly Colts, on loan from the Museum of the American West, Autry National Center of L.A. Ca. I saw an 1851 Navy Colt that was given to Wild Bill when he was elected sheriff of Hays City Kansas. They also had a brace of pistols that were given to Custer and a couple that belonged to Annie Oakley, gold plated and gorgeous. If you are into gold inlay and eye popping engraving you will enjoy this exhibit. Stark also has a very good collection of western art. Seeing pistols used by Autry, Mix and others I remember from my childhood as Sat. morning staples was a hoot. If you go ask about borrowing a flash light so you can really see the engraving work as the gallery was a little dim for my old eyes. Stark Museum is sadly under appreciated by the nearby residents, they really have some neat stuff. I also enjoyed the antique spur collection.

I thought you meant our WildBill!

center mass wrote:Stark Museum in Orange currently has an exhibit of very beautiful,mostly Colts, on loan from the Museum of the American West, Autry National Center of L.A. Ca. I saw an 1851 Navy Colt that was given to Wild Bill when he was elected sheriff of Hays City Kansas. They also had a brace of pistols that were given to Custer and a couple that belonged to Annie Oakley, gold plated and gorgeous. If you are into gold inlay and eye popping engraving you will enjoy this exhibit. Stark also has a very good collection of western art. Seeing pistols used by Autry, Mix and others I remember from my childhood as Sat. morning staples was a hoot. If you go ask about borrowing a flash light so you can really see the engraving work as the gallery was a little dim for my old eyes. Stark Museum is sadly under appreciated by the nearby residents, they really have some neat stuff. I also enjoyed the antique spur collection.

Thanks for the heads-up, I'm going to go and check it out

BTW, the Gene Autry Museum in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, is well worth touring if you're ever out that way. If at all possible, try to make it coincide with an appearance of Sourdough Slim, the last of the singing cowboys. I've seen Slim perform probably 8 or 10 times, and he is just good, clean, entertainment. Everybody comes away happy.

KFP wrote:I thought you meant our WildBill!

I've been looking for my old Navy Colt.

Well I went today. Traffic was heavy, and Port Arthur gets the big thumbs down, but the pistols were a pleasure to see. The museum itself was a little small, but it had some very good stuff. Of the pistols the Bohlin engraved Tom Mix Colt was the one that I would have liked to have walked away with the most, but I think they had maybe 50 on display so plenty to look at. +1 on using a flashlight to soak up the detailing though, my wife "The Curator" was nearly as astounded as I was re the poor choice of lighting for this particular collection. The exhibition runs until Oct IIRC, the museum is FREE admission and judging by today these folks could sure use the company. Eerily quiet was great for us, probably not so much for their staff