John Ogle's original 'Colt Dates' article

Dating brochures, by John Ogle

Colt published various brochures from early 1900 to 1950.  Form numbers started being used on printed matter about 1911.  Major revisions had the number plus the letter 'R'.  In 1929 all printed matter had to be dated with country of origin.  Brochures not marked can assume to be pre-1930, but there are examples of 'Printed in U.S.A'. on some early paperwork.

Brochures may be marked as 'firearms division' or 'small arms division'.  Early brochures were not marked. 

Colt differentiated its 'Firearms division from 1930 to 1939.  Prior to and after those 'Firearms division' dates, Colt used 'Small arms division' for revolvers.

For a short time, Colt used Small arms division from 1929 to 1930, then used Firearms division from 1931 until 1939, when it again used Small arms division again from 41 to 1947.

Brochures with a dealer's name could be ordered from Colt with or without the dealer name.

A 'Printed in U.S.A.' was mandated in 1929, but that does not mean Colt did not print that information as some of it was published in London before that office was closed in the early part of the 1900s.

The first run of a printed item would most likely contain images and 'cuts' through out repeated printings if the item was not changed.  That makes it difficult to date repeated printings unless an 'R' for revision is noted on the spec sheet.