Lot 1069

Western Used Colt Medium Frame Lightning Slide Action Carbine

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Western Used Colt Medium Frame Lightning Slide Action Carbine

Estimate: $8,000 - $11,000

Starting Bid: $7,000

(0 Bids)

by Rock Island Auction Company
August 22, 2026 9:00 AM CDT
Live Auction
3600 Harwood Road
Bedford, TX, US 76021

Western Used Colt Medium Frame Lightning Slide Action Carbine with a Complicated History Including Multiple Thefts and Use by Diamondfield Jack and Factory Letter This carbine was manufactured in 1890 and has quite a story which is laid out in the included letter on Golden Lodge No. 50 letterhead from Reno, Nevada. The letter is addressed to Bill Isaccs of Ely, Nevada, indicates this rifle belonged to a miner named George, the letter's author, who "won it in a card game in the spring of 1907 in Stingaree Gulch near Rawhide, Nevada. I staked a few claims there, did all right, and sold out a couple months later and went back to Goldfield and went to leasing around Columbia Mountain and Diamondfield. That carbine was stolen from my wagon in the summer of ’07, or maybe early fall, and my luck turned bad. However, it was recovered by a Deputy who I think was Bill Inman after a shootout in the cribs in the Red Light District there in Goldfield, a couple of weeks later. I got my gun back the day before I broke into a rich face of ore on a lease I had. A couple of weeks later I lent it to Diamondfield Jack Davis for a while, then traded it for something or the other. Jack was the saltiest in the coral around that area, a cowboy, gunman of note, who barely escaped a legal hanging in Cassia County, Idaho, and the ‘founder’ of the settlement of Diamondfield which was formerly called Grandpa. I did some leasing from Jack in those days. The gun was stolen from Jack a week or so after he bought it or traded for it, or whatever. It was recovered again sometime in November of 1907 from one of the I.W.W. onlookers the day that Paddy Mulany pushed that I.W.W. radical bastard St. John through the Pearly Gates… Diamondfield Jack shot a couple of highgraders with the old gun you have, and I bought it back after a year or so, and took it along to Rochester with me in 1912. It was stolen again from me that year, but recovered by Joel Nenzel from a tramp miner acting as a lookout for a bunch of highgraders near his claims... My brother was then working as a Deputy out of Tonopah, and he talked me out of the carbine, and used it to good avail around there, Cherry Creek, Ely, and Pioche. I got it back with his effects when he was shot and killed right after the War. That sawed-off shotgun I sent you was his as well. The old Colt pumpgun followed me to Cherry Creek, Austin, Eureka, Pioche, and was later in my possession when I was mining with your brother at Hamilton." An included receipt from Ron Peterson Antiques, Inc. to John Fox confirms that George's full identity was lost sometime before 1988 but also confirms that Bill Isaccs Jr., the son of the man who received the letter and carbine was known. Many of the mining towns referenced by George have since been deserted, but this carbine is a lasting relic from their history. Diamondfield Jack, a western character who had previously nearly been hung for murdering shepherds in the 1890s even though two other men had confessed to the crime because Jack had been bragging about shooting up the sheep herders the cattlemen loathed. After finally getting pardoned in 1902, Diamondfield Jack became rich in the mines of Nevada and was later struck and killed by a taxi in Las Vegas in 1949. The accompanying factory letter lists this carbine with a 20 inch barrel in .38 caliber, blue finish and "wood" stock when shipped to Harley & Graham of New York City on November 4, 1890. The carbine has the standard integral front sight and notch and folding ladder rear sight, the two-line address and patent marking ahead of the latter, filled saddle ring staple holes on the left, the serial number on the lower tang, and a checkered stock and forearm.

Manufacturer: Colt

Model: Lightning

BBL: 20 inch

Stock: walnut

Gauge: 38-40 WCF

Finish: blue

Serial Number51958

Class: Antique

  • Provenance: The John Fox Collection; A Private Collection
  • Condition: Very good with honest wear from use in the mines of the West with 30% original blue finish remaining, plum tone on most of the frame, smooth dark patina on the balance, some patches mild oxidation and pitting, small chips at the upper corners of the wrist, crisp markings and checkering, and general minor marks and scratches. Mechanically functions. This trusty western used carbine was depended on by multiple miners as well as some criminals in the West from the 1890s and into the 20th century. Manufactured in 1890 and won in a card game in 1907, who knows what other tales it could tell in addition to those already recorded by its former owner.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $199 $10
$200 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $25,000