Frontier Firearms from the Lifetime Collection of Larry Ness

.44 Remington. 7.5" barrel length. SN: 902. Relic condition metal is heavily pitted and retains only a minute trace of nickel plating on the top of the frame. Barrel address almost illegible, grips missing. The revolver was recovered from the bottom of Rosebud Creek on the Rosebud Reservation on July 21, 1993 by Victor Young of Parmelee, SD an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux tribe. The revolver was subsequently sold to Chadicks, LTD of Terrell, TX on August 31, 1993. Letters documenting these facts are included with the revolver. It is well documented that 650 Remington Model 1875 revolvers were purchased by the United States Interior Department for the use of the Native American Tribal Police, along with 600 Remington-Keene Frontier Rifles in 1880. Mr. Young's letter references an order of 1,300 guns and shipment to the Dakota Territory for use by the Tribal Police in 1885, but it is more likely that he conflated the order for both rifles and pistols with simply pistols. However it is quite possible the guns did not arrive at the Rosebud Reservation in 1885. The location of the gun's recovery certainly suggests that it was quite likely one of the Indian Police revolvers from the Remington order. A wonderful, untouched example of a field recovered 1875 from an historic area.