Roy Rogers Commemorative HELP !!

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RICO

Bearcat
Joined
May 13, 2009
Messages
12
Location
Chino Valley, Arizona
A friend has a Ruger Blackhawk "Roy Rogers" Commemorative. He says it's Stainless in 38-40 Cal. with a 5 1/2" barrel. Says it has a 10mm extra cylinder. It has faux Ivory grips and some gold inlay engraving.

I can NOT find any info about this revolver ANYWHERE........

I did a Google search (all kinds of ways), looked at RCA's website, Happy Trails Website, and did a Search on this website.

ANYBODY have any info on this gun? My buddy wants to trade me for something I have he wants, but I have no idea what his Ruger might be worth.

Any HELP will be appreciated...............

Thanks, RICO
 
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
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11,654
Location
Kentucky
The Buckeye Sports Special edition of the .38-40/10mm convertible is shown in the RENE price guide at $715 average in COLLECTOR CONDITION with the box and everything.

I have no idea if this is even close to the Roy Rogers gun, but it is not nearly as well-known as the Buckeye version. I do not find them mentioned in the RENE Reference.

You might check here . . .

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/SearchResults.aspx?Keywords=roy%20rogers

Bear in mind these are ASKING prices, and I don't see the convertible version listed.

:)
 

chet15

Hawkeye
Joined
Jan 22, 2001
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5,993
Location
Dawson, Iowa
That's the first I've heard of a Roy Rogers commemorative. I assume its a stainless Vaquero and not a true stainless Blackhawk? Then again....Ruger never did a stainless .38/40 10mm convertible in the Vaquero either....it was a .38-40/.40 S&W convertible. Does it actually have engraving or something else on the gun that says Roy Rogers on it?
The Roy Rogers guns are all after market customizations which is the reason you won't find it anywhere. These have obviously had some demand as you hear of the Roy Rogers Bearcat every now and then, but to me at least "customizations is customizations". Has to really trip yer 'trigger (pardon the pun) to be worth that something extra to the next guy.
The extra 10mm cylinder has me curious though. Ruger never did a stainless 10mm that I know of, but....??? Could use more info as the base model itself could turn out to be interesting.
Chet15
 

RICO

Bearcat
Joined
May 13, 2009
Messages
12
Location
Chino Valley, Arizona
O.K. here is more info. Now keep in mind that this pistol has been featured in the Cody Museum's Display about Roy Rogers.............I saw it there myself and the owner has paperwork about "Loan"

It is a Blackhawk (adjustable sights) as best I can tell I haven't seen the gun in awhile and I'm only going by my friends description. I'm going to ask for the serial number next time I talk to him.

It has gold inlay engraving attesting to Roy Rogers but I can't remember specifics. It has faux Ivory grips with Roy on Trigger engraved in grip.

It is supposed to be #75 of 75 that my friend purchased directly from Roy at the Museum when it was still in California. He has pics of him receiving the gun from Dusty Rogers and a letter from "Linda" that ran the office at the Museum. There is all kinds of evidence that this is a "real" Roy Rogers Commemorative" but WHAT"S IT WORTH..................

RICO
 
Joined
Dec 11, 2002
Messages
8,966
Location
Ohio , U.S.A.
sounds like one of the guns done many years ago by my friend Ron Mahovsky in Penn....Ron did a bunch of special "offerings" for the Roy Rogers family, through Dusty ( the son) and these were in Single Sixes, Super Bearcats and some 'Blackhawks'...they were finished in his 'Metalife SS' chromium finish ,so were NOT stainless but sure look like it......these guns also had special grips that had a 'bronc rider' and the letters "RR" cut in the grips. we still have a few pairs of these left over from the project, but do NOT have the "RR" as they were not accepted for use ,nor permission to use the "RR" for any sales.........


RRgrips.jpg



as for the values, I have not seen any values for any of these guns, let alone any "sets" ( though we had heard of one surfacing recently in Penn and the consesus was the "pair" in this case would be worth in the $2400,2500 range)., and two weeks ago we saw one of the Blackhawks that was NOT 'sold' ( more like a prototype?) and it was a convertible, in 38-40/10 mm, and was NOT one of the Buckeye guns, it belongs to one of Rons gunsmiths.....then again, ANY 'custom 'smith can mkae up ANY of these, finish it,whatever ,in whichever caliber one wants to pay for........
the provenance you mention though , sounds like one of the offerings, ,from the family? or museaum, or whatever........
sorry ,never kept any of the literature from back then, nor any of the guns, even though we supplied Ron with some of them (mainly the 'steel' Super Bearcats) my wife was not a "fan"....
I will have to see if Ron or the guys have any pictures or we can take some ourselves, as this is coming up more and more these days....
 

RICO

Bearcat
Joined
May 13, 2009
Messages
12
Location
Chino Valley, Arizona
Dan:

Thanks for the info and the pics of the grips. Those are similar to the ones on this gun but these (the ones on the gun) do have the Double R brand on them as well as the "Bronco Rider" on yours, and are a faux ivory material.

Also this is a single gun, not a pair......

Apparently it has a gold colored loading gate and some other gold parts (hammer & trigger) as well as some gold inlaid engraving.

My friend also has a (Uberti?) SAA that is blue w/ a gold cylinder that we have identified and priced. He has a Single Six "Roy Rogers" in 22lr/22mag as well. This pistol has also been identified and priced.

This Blackhawk is the only one we can not find any others of or get an estimate of it's value. I'm telling him the fact that it was displayed in the Cody museum and the pics and letters relating to it's purchase directly from Roy will add to it's value. We just don't know what that might be.
If there truly were only 75 of these that would make it extremely rare.
Which may be why we can't locate any others.

Thanks again Dan. Let me know if you find out any more.

RICO
 

chet15

Hawkeye
Joined
Jan 22, 2001
Messages
5,993
Location
Dawson, Iowa
RICO said:
Dan:

This Blackhawk is the only one we can not find any others of or get an estimate of it's value. I'm telling him the fact that it was displayed in the Cody museum and the pics and letters relating to it's purchase directly from Roy will add to it's value. We just don't know what that might be.
If there truly were only 75 of these that would make it extremely rare.
Which may be why we can't locate any others.

RICO

The question would be whether they could make more RR guns. I'd say yes. I wouldn't think they made 75 just because it was a limited issue. It might have been because there just isn't as much demand for something like that. Is apples and oranges when comparing the rarity of an after-market customization RR gun to a factory produced rarity of 75 or less production.
Just be careful. Guns like this can be a pretty tough sell.
Chet15
 

RICO

Bearcat
Joined
May 13, 2009
Messages
12
Location
Chino Valley, Arizona
chet15:

I agree with you on most of your statement, however..............

This is #75 of 75. That means it's a limited edition that there won't be anymore of. Doesn't mean there can't be more made, but they won't be within the numbers (75 of 75) and, to be honest, I can't imagine anyone making anymore of these BECAUSE they wouldn't be part of the 75 of 75. That make any sense?

Anyway, if I understand correctly, Roy authorized 75 of these guns to be produced and numbered 1-75 of 75. They were sold only through the Roy Rogers Museum. My friend knew Roy personally and also knows Dusty. My suggestion to him was contact Dusty and see if there are any remaining records from the RR Museum. Unfortunately the recent auctions and closure of the Museum in Branson makes it difficult to obtain any records from the California period. There may be FFL records of sale somewhere but I can't imagine anyway of obtaining these.

Anybody else out there ever run across one of these guns? I'm going to have my friend bring the gun when he comes to visit so I can take a picture of it and maybe make some head way after posting pic.

Any other info out there?

Thanks, RICO
 
Joined
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Messages
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RICO< that would be great to take any pictures and you could contact Ron direct at his website, if it was indeed he, who made these...like anything else over the years MANY Rugers were used as "platforms" both by custom builders, as well as any and ALL "social ,fraternal, organizations......"
just cause its a Ruger ,doen't mean Ruger did the final work, they seldom did, compared to ALL the "offerings" out there over alll these years.......................
 

radicalrod

Hunter
Joined
Jan 9, 2004
Messages
3,567
Location
Bowling Green, Oh
Hey I think I will make an RR gun......with a wheelie'ing motorcycle :lol: :lol: :lol: only 74 more orders needed :roll: :roll: :roll: send you cash fast before they are gone :lol: :lol: :lol: see ya RR aka Radicalrod.
 
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