Juan Peron's San Martin Colts

Revolvers with San Martin's name were given Peron

as genuine relics of South America's great Liberator

By A. BARON ENGELHARDT

Model I860 Colt with short barrel was given to Peron who liked to see himself  as a modern liberator

LIBERATOR OF HALF of South America was the General Jose de San Martin. The Peruvian Congress made him "Protector of Peru." Ricardo de Rojas in his biography of San Martin calls him "the saint of the sword."

The liberator brought freedom to the people by breaking the Spanish rule. But after all his military exploits, he retired to France, disgusted with the way the politicians had handled the governments of the countries he had freed but too modest to seize power as a dictator. He died at Grand Bourg, near Boulogne, in 1850.

Modern Argentina venerates him as the national hero. Juan Peron, as Argentina's president, had sought to identify his own career with that of the liberator, Gral San Martin.

One hundred years after San Martin's death, the year 1950 was proclaimed by Peron as "Año San-Martiniano" and a special museum was founded to house all the relics of the great man's history. Celebrations to his memory occurred. And it was in this national "atmosphere" that the discovery of the San Martin Colts took place.

Sometime during 1950 my friend, John P., an American engineer in Argentina and a gun enthusiast, phoned me: "Have you  seen the San Martin revolvers?" I was greatly astonished, this being the first time I had heard of them. Knowing San Martin died in 1850, I started to ask if they were Paterson Colts? John went on, "I know everything you want to tell me—they're real, though, and can be seen in the shop of X. Go there
and have a look; then give me your opinion.. ." and he hung up. Thinking of these guns, I kept wondering—could they be Paterson Colts of the 1830s, or even Walkers?

But when I finally got to the shop, X told me they had been there, a pair of Colt revolvers, and the price, was equal to about $500, but nobody had wanted them so the owner took them away again. He refused to give me the name of the owner. I told John of the bad luck, but he replied "No matter— the guns haven't been sold. They'll turn up again."

And they did, some months later, this time in a fashionable store in Buenos Aires' most exclusive shopping district, the Calle Florida.

But my bad luck still held— when I went there after John's call, the owner had come and taken them away a short time before. But this storekeeper obligingly gave me the name of the owner and off I went the same evening to see him. lie lived in one of the best quarters of the city, in a fine apartment. When I told himI wished to see the revolvers, he was verynice about it, and brought out a plain pine box I knew at once was not a Colt pistol case.

The two guns inside were beautiful and, what's pretty rare with antique guns in Argentina, well preserved, too. Most of the original bluing was present, and the ivory grips were beautifully carved with the coat of arms of Peru.

The butt of each grip was inscribed ‘GENERAL J. DE SAN MARTIN’. They were fine guns. Only a few little things were wrong with them.

They were Army Colts of the 1860 model, and San Martin had died in 1850. Their 8" barrels had been cut short to approximately six inches, making handsome short-barrel pistols, but not exactly original. I was clearly in the presence of two most interesting fakes, and said so. The owner did not flare up in anger, as I had momentarily expected. He took up a letter from his desk, in which the Colt company stated the photo of these guns sent to them clearly showed them to be 1860 Colts.

As I looked at him in astonishment, he smiled and said, "You only confirmed what Colt had already told me." We chatted a while longer, and he told me the tradition was that these guns had been given by Peruvian President General Castillo to San Martin in his office as Ex-Protector of Peru, while in exile in France. We didn't discuss further my buying the guns.

When I reported the interview to John the next day he agreed with me that they were fakes. A couple of years after, John left Argentina to return to the States. But he kept thinking of the 1860 Colts.

San Martin Colts bear numbers in 113,800 series, made about 1864

He had concluded that in spite of their false markings, the condition and general rarity of such a pair made them worth buying and he asked me to look into it. I again wrote to the owner and received a reply that really shocked me. He stated the revolvers were no longer for sale, and he had decided to make a present of the "San Martin revolvers" to "our beloved President, Peron, to increase the slock of San Martin relics in the possession of the country." What a rascal! Knowing the story of the guns, and yet he would go to such an extreme.

What favor he expected to get from such a gift, I do not know. Except for the Presidente of the Museo San Martiniano and the Argentine Historical Museum, nobody really knew the story, so the guns passed to Peron unrecognized as fraudulent. So now I had a conscience problem—should I notify the President that the guns never belonged to San Martin, and what would happen if I did? I decided to consult with a friend who was a judge and, while we were consulting (things move slowly in Argentina) the revolution broke out and Peron disappeared. I am told that later in an exhibition of

personal property of Evita and Juan Peron, the revolvers appeared. I did not see them again for several years.

In the summer of 1955, a police officer came to see me. He introduced himself as a Captain in the Central Police Department, explained he understood I knew something about guns, and wondered whether I could tell him something about ''this." So saying, he pulled forth one of the San Marlin fakes. I broke out laughing and gave him the full story. He went away and about a month later we met at the offices of a hunting magazine I sometimes write for. He was evidently cross-checking my account, so he got the whole story again.

The guns are now in government custody, property of ex-dictator Peron. Up to now (1958/1959), their fate has not been decided. I wonder if we shall meet again? Fakes or not, they are certainly well worth the trouble they have caused. But most curious of all perhaps is—what favor did the man expect when he gave these guns, which he knew to be fakes, to President Peron?