MODS: Could you please change Attachment 13699 and Attachment 13700 to be embedded with the text? My browser crashed as I was uploading them, and I'm not sure why they won't appear now.
First off: I'd like to apologize for the quality of these photos. I took them with my smart phone and all of them look atrocious. Second: I wish I could provide a lot more insight into this pistol, but I only have a sliver of its history, and am not in a real good position (at least at the moment) to learn more about it. Third: I don't know a lot about revolvers in general, so the various Wheel-Gun Professors about will have to do the heavy lifting in regard to the history of the platform.
This revolver belonged to a Texas Ranger named John Aycock. In the Texas Rangers, the highest award the organization can bestow is called the 'Medal of Valor'. Since the inception of the 'Medal of Valor,' it's only been awarded five times. Johnny Aycock is the first, and only, Ranger to have won it twice.
Long story short: a dear friend of the family got to know Johnny during the latter parts of his career. When Johnny finally retired in 2001, our friend said he wanted to buy one of his guns. Johnny had a few of his firearms at the Texas Ranger museum, and had sold a few others, so my friend was able to procure this revolver.
First, the letter that Johnny wrote explaining what this revolver was:
John had his name engraved on the grip.
As it was explained to me (and again, this was conveyed to me in an informal conversation, and it's entirely likely I misheard something), the inverted "gypsy death symbol" was something Johnny adopted as kind of his "brand." This is apparently a symbol of significant superstition amongst the people Johnny spent the earlier parts of his career policing. He had it engraved on either side of all of his guns.
He had engraving work done all along the cylinder and the barrel.
The grips on the pistol are not the originals. I'm told the originals were fairly plain, so my friend added some old grips he had procured from some place or other, just to give the pistol that much more class.
Again, I'm sorry for the quality of the images. As a side note, I don't have access to the pistol: I was back home to support my friend and his family after his wife of 48 years and 50 weeks passed this Wednesday due to complications of chemo-induced pneumonia. Asking him about this pistol was my attempt at a momentary distraction. If you're the praying type, a few prayers for my friend and his children and grandchildren would be appreciated.
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Originally Posted by NickA
