I saw a set of what a guy is calling Colt Military Handcuffs, they don't look like the set of Colt handcuffs I have or either of the one's listed on this site. Mine and the ones on this site have the Colt Pony reared up at an angle. The cuffs this guy has shows the Colt Pony straight across - ? Is this a at Home Stamped, off Brand cuff Like a Few of the guys on this Forum have Joked about doing.... Ha Ha Ha, or is this for real, and is it military, if so How Rare? Thanks Jim
Jim:
I am no expert on handcuffs, but I do know a little bit about Colt firearms and the things folks do to fake them.
It seems to me you've got a winner. People get all hung up over the "rampart Colt logo" which has some distinctive characteristics that the fakers miss. The angle of the horse is of little consequence. Look at the two arrows shot at the horse. On a real Colt logo, he's caught one in his mouth, while another is flying behind him on the BACK side.
Where the fakers usually mess up is on the arrow flying behind the horse. In creating a fake stamp, they line up the shaft of the lower arrow with the slightly curved line delineating the horse's left front thigh muscle, such that it appears the arrow has gotten shot through the horse. On the genuine articles, the little line of the thigh muscle is slightly below the line of the arrow. On your stamp, the thigh muscle line is below the "missed arrow" which tells me it's a true logo.
The second area that the fakers mess up on is the stamping of the Colt name. If all you see is "Colt", "Colt Firearms" or something, it's a fake. Except for very early revolvers sold through the first New Haven factory and London offices, the one and only stamping ever used is:
COLT'S PT. F.A. MFG. CO. HARTFORD, CT. U.S.A.
Always in all capital letters (COLT not Colt) and Connecticut always abbreviated at CT and not as Conn. "Patent" it always "PT" and not "Pat." "Pat'd." or anything else. Period, the comma and asterisk were always the same, just as they are on your cuffs.
There was a little while where the rampart horse was incorporated with an entwining, elongated "C". This was done for a few years around 1900 to distinguish the newer Colt's made with a different, stronger steel that were manufactured to withstand the greater pressures generated by the new Nitro, or smokeless gunpowders, as opposed the the previous black powders. However, that was discontinued long before Colt ever even thought about making handcuffs.
Congratualtions. Whatever it is you've got, it seems to be a genuine Colt.
