Bill of Sale for Remington Mod. 1875 Revolvers Shipped to New Mexico in 1882

This is part of a group of five Bills of Sale from the Lowenstein Strouse & Co. Hardware Store in Mora, New Mexico.  The town is located about 30 miles from Las Vegas, New Mexico and Los Alamos at the base of the Rocky Mountains and not far from the Sante Fe Trail. They just don't get much better than this! There are orders for Colts, Winchesters, Remingtons, cartridges, gun leather, bridles, whips, and even wash tubs.  All are dated  the 1880's to 1890's from various Hardware distributors including Hall & Wallis of Kansas City, MO as well as Simmons Hardware Company, E.C Meacham Arms, and Dagnan-Maginnis Saddlery Co all of St. Louis. These Bills give great insight into where guns were actually being shipped into the American West as they pick up where most factory records fall short.  Over the years, we have looked high and low for old hardware store bills like these and never come across many that pertained to Weapons and even fewer that were from Hardware stores in the Old West.    All five of these came from an old Colt Collector who bought them many years ago from another old Collector. These are rarely found and almost never come up for sale.

This particular Bill is from E.C. Meacham & Co. of Saint Louis, Missouri located at 400 and 402 N. Third Street.  Its dated February 17, 1882.  The order is for 6 nickel plated and 6 blued Model 1875 Remington revolvers in 44 Caliber destined for B. Lowestein Co. of Mora, New Mexico.  The Model 1875 revolver was a major competitor of the Colt SAA produced from approx. 1875 to 1888 by Remington.  Among noteworthy users of the 1875, Jesse James carried a blued 1875 while his brother Frank used a nickel plated one.  In fact, these 1875's shipped from Meacham in St. Louis just 2 weeks before Jesse James demise in St. Joseph, Missouri.  Note that the cost of a Plated revolver is 9.00 while the blued is only 8.50.  A rare glimpse into where a small batch of  Remington revolvers were shipped to in the American West.  Don't let this one slip away...you may never see another one!

Item# 0909

SOLD