{"id":29530,"date":"2026-05-11T17:00:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T22:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/11\/churchill-no-1-a-colt-masterpiece\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T17:00:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T22:00:26","slug":"churchill-no-1-a-colt-masterpiece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/11\/churchill-no-1-a-colt-masterpiece\/","title":{"rendered":"Churchill No. 1: A Colt Masterpiece"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mejs-video-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"autoplay\" width=\"580\" height=\"380\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RWGbo9CMoSE?controls=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>The \u201cGray Ghost\u201d may be the finest Colt Single Action Army revolver ever created. Over the course of nearly 10 years and more than 9,000 hours of work, legendary Master Engraver Winston Churchill and Master Engraver Damien F. Connolly transformed a Colt SAA into a museum-level masterpiece unlike anything the firearms world has ever seen. Featuring deep relief engraving, sculpted 24 karat gold inlays, carved walnut grips, and an astonishing bespoke exhibition case, \u201cChurchill No. 1\u201d was created with one goal in mind: to produce a firearm that would still inspire awe centuries from now.<\/p>\n<p>In this video, we dive deep into the story behind the Gray Ghost \u2014 from the earliest design conversations with Colt to Churchill\u2019s final years at the bench and Connolly\u2019s seamless continuation of the project after Churchill could no longer engrave. Along the way, we explore the symbolism woven throughout the revolver, the philosophy behind its flowing Arabesque scrollwork, and the extraordinary craftsmanship that led many involved to call it the greatest Colt ever produced.<\/p>\n<p>00:00 \u2013 The Gray Ghost Colt Single Action Army<br \/>01:35 \u2013 The Vision for this Colt SAA<br \/>02:10 \u2013 How This Gun Got A Special Serial Number (Churchill No. 1) <br \/>04:00 \u2013 Winston Churchill\u2019s Drawings &#038; Design Sketches<br \/>05:50 \u2013 Damien Connolly\u2019s Bespoke Exhibition Case <br \/>08:00 \u2013 How Churchill Chose Connolly for Exceptional Case<br \/>11:20 \u2013 \u201cA Once In A Lifetime Engraver &#038; Artist\u201d <br \/>15:10 \u2013 How The Finished Case Required Over 3,600 Hours to Create<br \/>16:30 \u2013 Winston Churchill\u2019s Best &#038; Final Masterpiece<br \/>19:00 \u2013 Continuing the Engraving After Churchill<br \/>24:00 \u2013 Gold Inlay Colt Lettering &#038; Deep Relief Engraving<br \/>26:28 \u2013 The 300 Hour Hammer Engraving<br \/>29:40 \u2013 9,200 Hours: A Decade-Long Masterwork<br \/>31:40 \u2013 Why the Gray Ghost Transcends Firearms Collecting<br \/>32:45 \u2013 The Finest Colt Ever Created? <\/p>\n<p>Follow us!<br \/>Email: <a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/cg4yPb\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/eepurl.com\/cg4yPb<\/a><br \/>Facebook: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RockIslandAuctionCompany\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RockIslandAuctionCompany<\/a><br \/>Instagram: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/rockislandauction\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/rockislandauction\/<\/a><br \/>X: <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RIAuction\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/x.com\/RIAuction<\/a><\/p>\n<p>#ColtSingleActionArmy #WinstonChurchill #FineArms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The \u201cGray Ghost\u201d may be the finest Colt Single Action Army revolver ever created. Over the course of nearly 10 years and more than 9,000 hours of work, legendary Master Engraver Winston Churchill and Master Engraver Damien F. Connolly transformed a Colt SAA into a museum-level masterpiece unlike anything the firearms world has ever seen.&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/11\/churchill-no-1-a-colt-masterpiece\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Churchill No. 1: A Colt Masterpiece<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":29531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[89,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}