Offered here is a cased pair of engraved Colt Detective Special Model Revolvers in caliber .32 New Police and .38 Special. These revolvers were engraved by Alvin White for New York executive and noted firearms collector S. Lewis Hutcheson. The revolvers are complete with a detailed, four-page letter from Colt expert and historian R.L. Wilson that describes the engraving, the case, and the history of the revolvers in exacting detail. The revolvers have a Colt blue finish with matted top straps, grip straps and underside of the frames. The backs of the front sight blades and the edges of the sighting grooves on the top straps are serrated. The sides of the hammers are bright and the top surfaces have a matted finish with checkered hammer spurs. Both revolvers have the standard two-line Colt address on the right sides of the barrels and the model and caliber designation on the left sides. The .38 caliber revolver (No. 536383) is fitted with pearl grips with German silver Colt Medallions inlaid in the upper corner. The .32 Colt Revolver (No. 526368) has pearl grips without the Colt Medallions. The revolvers are fully engraved (Type C) with fine scrolls on shallow sculpted backgrounds. The shallow engraving provides relief for the scrollwork. The edges of the frames have an elegant wavy border. The wavy border continues on the bottom of the grip straps and on the edges of the cylinder release thumb latches. The engraving on the revolvers represents White's rarely observed early style and is noted as such in both R.L. Wilson's letter and in a letter from A.A. White dated July 18,1991. The revolvers are fitted with a mahogany, velvet-lined, contour casing that was made by White and documented as such in the July 1991 letter. R. L. Wilson, the widely published expert on Colt engraving, described A.A. White as "the most famous of all 20th century American Arms engravers". This matched pair of Colt Detective Special Model Revolvers with the rarely encountered early style A.A. White engraving and equally rare A.A. White casing are exceptional examples of the finest modern firearm engraving.

Near mint as A.A. White embellished, retaining nearly all of the blue finish and show minimal storage wear and minimal cylinder drag line. The engraved surfaces are perfect. The blue velvet case interior has some minor compression marks from the revolver cylinders and is slightly dusty but in excellent condition. The mahogany exterior is in fine condition. There is some scattered crazing on the varnish on the lid and some minor storage marks; the case shows only minimal wear.

As described in A.

Near mint as A.A. White embellished, retaining nearly all of the blue finish and show minimal storage wear and minimal cylinder drag line. The engraved surfaces are perfect. There is a tiny hair-line crack in the upper corner on the left grip. The grips are in near mint condition in all other respects. These revolvers are magnificent, fully documented examples of the early work of one of the best 20th century American firearms engravers.