This is a BEAUTIFUL PISTOL! This is a great looking original and tough to find Cooper patent revolver. Upon 1st glance these guns look like a Colt revolver until you notice the oversized triggerguard. This is the .31 caliber made by the J.M. Cooper firm of Pennsylvania and is so marked along the top of the full-length 4 inch barrel. It still reads clearly on the marking of "COOPER FIREARMS MFG. Co. FRANKFORD PHILA. PA." Also on the top of the barrel it has the patent marks of "PAT. JAN 7 1851 APR 25 1854 SEPT 4 1860/SEP 1 1863 SEP 22 1863". It has matching serial numbers of 3,855. In Flayderman's guide he states that they only produced about 15,000 of these revolvers. This is the 2nd Model variation which are numbered between 400 to 15,000. They made them in the .36 as well as the .31 caliber version like this one. The neat thing about these Cooper pistols is that it is a double action revolver. The action works quite well on all positions. The original grips are intact and have a wonderful look to the walnut wood and still retain a beautiful amount of the original varnish. This is the version that has the brass triggerguard and backstrap and you can see that each has a gorgeous untouched patina all over. The frame of the gun has a superb amount of the original factory case colors that displays well with all of he original blue on the barrel. This is a gorgeous looking brass triggerguard Cooper patent revolver, you will have a very hard time finding a better one of these.