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The Nichols Stallion 45!
THE KING OF THE DIE-CAST CAP
GUNS! |
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The Nichols Stallion 45 MK-II toy Cap Gun is one
of the best Cap Guns ever and certainly one of the most famous toy cap pistols
ever made—proclaimed by experts as the finest die-cast toy cap pistol the
world has ever seen! Collectors of Cap Guns the world over collect this one. A
beautiful example of a Colt 45 Peacemaker. For sheer raw beauty and fine
workmanship, this famous Cap Gun just can't be beat. It also had a wonderful
silver and blue hinged box that in itself is quite valuable. For goodness'
sake, if you have a Stallion 45 MK-II box, then put it by itself and take care
of it!!! Even the reproduction boxes like Dan and Karen Dozier make are very
valuable. (See their Ad - They Are The Best "Repro" Boxes in the
World!.) There were actually a couple of versions of the boxes, and
this Cap Gun also came boxed with a Dyna-Mite! A PERFECT original G-45
box is worth about as much as a used car! Please send me yours, as my G-45 has
just a normal box. Uncle Talley: What were you thinking???
After you see
the Stallion 45 MK-II, remember that there are quite a few other
Stallions on this website, but the Stallion 300
Saddle Gun is listed under "Rifles." |
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| DON'T FORGET TO SEE
THE OTHER CAP GUN BRANDS! |
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TODAY'S FEATURED ITEM
ON THIS WEBSITE!
There are
over 4,500 pages (including those from thumbnails—and the site is still
growing!) on this website that will give you more information plus BIGGER
PHOTOS!
Davy Crockett
Holster Set
Photo by Donald Webster
CLICK ON THIS
THUMBNAIL TO GO TO THE PARENT PAGE FOR THIS ITEM.
(then go find
it!) |
| WE HAVE LOTS OF BRANDS OF CAP GUNS BESIDES
JUST NICHOLS ON THIS WEBSITE. |
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This BRAND NEW (totally unused) Nichols Stallion 45 MK-II Cap Gun
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given to the author by Talley Nichols, the beautiful case by my
son. |
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I didn't think there was still a Stallion 45 MK II schematic
drawing in existence until I saw this one. Thank you to our friend, William C.
Blecke. Thanks Bill.
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Stallion 45 MK-II
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Please
Click On Each Thumbnail For An Enlarged View!
Many thanks to Ken Rigler for
these photos! |
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| Though there are several variations of the
Stallion 45 MK-II Cap Gun that are covered in Jim Schleyer's book, Backyard
Buckaroos, for space limitations we are only going to consider them "as a
whole." |
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| This cap pistol was the 45 from Pasadena taken a
step up and was manufactured in Jacksonville, Texas. The triple-plated chrome
is evident, as it really shines. The details are enhanced and it has a most
distinctive feature—a Nichols Circle "N" in a clear circle of plastic and
a red background. Several other cap pistols have this feature, but this one
also came with 2 sets of grips. Pearl white and jet black. Perhaps to tell the
Good Guys from the Bad Guys? It also came in a special silver and dark blue
cardboard presentation box with (of course!) 6 bullets and a clip for
them. |
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A very rare store
display
for the Stallion 45 MK-II
Contributed by
Jamie Linford |
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Stallion 45 MK-II parts all laid out for a
cleaning and refurbishing. As stated elsewhere, one of the nicest things about
Nichols Industries Cap Guns, and Stallions in particular was that even the
average kid could take them apart and put them back together. A little
cleaning; a little oiling and they were kept in prime condition.
However, some
dealers specialize in restorations and refurbishing.
Thanks to
Jim Turner for the photo |
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CLICK TO ENLARGE |
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If you're one of the Bad Guys, then it's better
to see this end than the other!
I just put this photo on here because it is the
first time I have ever seen a photo of this end of a Stallion 45 MK-II.
Thanks to
Jim Turner for the photo |
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I just couldn't resist putting another photo
of a display rack for the Stallion 45 MK-II AND the Stallion 32. You'd be
surprised at how rare these are. This is the first Stallion 32 rack I have seen
like this one.
This photo is by Belinda Quan from Chuck Quinn's
collection.
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A pair of really (!) rare MK-II Stallion 45 Cap
Guns.
The gun on top has the same gold "Circle N" as the G-45 and is a blued
Nichols gun.
The one below is more from the Kusan era and is called
"gray."
Contributed by Jamie Linford |
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This is a blued
Nichols/Kusan era Stallion 45 MK-II in the "shadow box." I zoomed in on the
photo and think it says, "$3.75" for the sale price. If that's so, then it
might say, "$5.00" for the regular price, but it's hard to see.
CLICK ON PHOTO FOR LARGER PHOTO
This photo is by
Belinda Quan from Chuck Quinn's collection. |
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Here is a scan (though I've
reduced it in order that it is a tad sharper) of something I hadn't ever seen
before. This is from a 1975 Kusan catalog and the Nichols Stallion 45 is the
one with the dummy bullets. It is in a shadow box and is labeled "THE
COLLECTOR'S SERIES."
This was submitted by our friend Harold Utley. |
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Here's a rare type of Stallion MK-II, a black one
of the "Notch-It" series. Wooden grips (I guess so you can notch them!)
These photos are
by Toby O'Brien. |
Here is an
Olive Stallion 45. You will note that it has unusual red inserts, but this
seems to be a GENUINE Nichols product. It was probably from late in the
Nichols/Kusan years. I photo-edited it just a touch in order that you folks
could see what it should look like when coming from the factory. This is from
Chuck Quinn's collection, who got it from Herb Taylor.
This was
submitted by Belinda Quan.
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At the bottom of
every page is a Circle "N" Logo and when you click on it, it will take you back
to the top of the page. |
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Electro-Chemical Plating |
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| Since this gun has been called, "The King Of The Die-Cast Guns,"
then a word about the triple-plating process might be in order. These guns were
cast out of a zinc alloy. Since chrome would not "stick" to the zinc, they were
first copper plated. Then nickel plated and finally chrome plated. Here's how
it worked. Imagine a series of vats that looked like modern day
dumpsters—all in 2 rows (most vats on one side). Down the center of these
2 rows was a LONG racetrack that resembled an amusement park roller coaster.
The connected wheels followed the contours of the track. The track had hills
where the edges of the vats were and no hills where the centers were. There
were racks attached to this chain. The guns were placed on the racks by ladies
as it was moving and the racks were in the air. As they left the ladies, the
hills forced the wheels to raise the rack up over the edges of the first vat.
As they passed the edge, the track went "downhill" and the rack was lowered
into the vat. The first few vats were cleaning vats. Then, after acid baths to
clean them, they plunged into the copper vat. When they came out (an electrical
charge made the metal stick to the guns), they were like gleaming
pennies—all shiny!!! Then after a few more cleaning baths they went into
the nickel plating vat because now the nickel would stick to the copper.
Suddenly they were blindingly shiny! They looked like chrome. But, as you know,
nickel won't stay shiny long. So eventually they went into the chrome plating
vat. A thin layer of the hard chrome was all it took and now, after a few
rinses, they were ready. By now they had circled the track and were close to
the beginning. Then ladies would take them off of the racks and put them into
barrels—awaiting assembly. Watching this magical process was one of the
most exciting events of my young life. —MN |
Simply a fantastic
set of Stallion 45's MK-II in a special presentation box. The little plaque
says, "Guns by NICHOLS." Apparently this one was presented by the factory to
one of their special clients, so it is genuine and not a "Third Party" like you
see so often. This is what makes it rare. You will just never see a Cap Gun
anywhere that was any better than this. All of the books proclaim it and I
believe it.
This photo is by Belinda Quan from Chuck Quinn's
collection.
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| The Stallion 45 MK-II, in pristine condition,
sells for a pile of money, but it has a sibling that is probably the most
expensive toy gun ever made, the "Royally Famous" Stallion 45 MK-II Gold Plated
Limited Edition Presentation Model. For those lucky enough to own one of these
jewels, it has beautiful pearl blue grips, a gold background for the Circle "N"
and IS GOLD PLATED! (real gold, by the way) The cylinder is still chrome, but
most of the gun is gold plated. There were less than 200 of these ever made,
and I have only seen a few. Like mine! Though Schleyer's book shows a photo of
the presentation box with the gold stripe, I have never seen one of these, and
although my box doesn't have a gold stripe...it WAS given to me by my
Uncle Talley! We have handled ours far more than made sense, but then we are
not going to sell our family heirloom. In MY opinion, you shouldn't let
one of these go for less than $6,000. |
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Here are some photos of the G-45, as it's called
in the trade.
Photos all contributed by Ted Dietrich |
I bet you
didn't know that the Stallion 45 came in a box like this. Well, I didn't
either. But Jack Rosenthal did and he contributed this
photo. That a Stallion Model 61 with it. And for you city slickers, that's a
genuine red bandanna.
Here's the
regular Stallion 45 MK-II box, of course. The whole secret to purchasing a box
is to make sure that the corners aren't broken and the paper hinge is still
intact. In all of the Cap Gun world, this is one of the best boxes ever
designed. Uncle Talley took a lot of pride. I only wish I had collected more of
these boxes myself. I had the chance, but now it's another one of those cases
of 20/20 hindsight. Most of you are sort of in the same boat.
Got bullets?
Jack Rosenthal did and he sent me this photo
to scan. Jack has had so many Cap Guns and such during his phenomenal career,
but most of his photos were before the digital age. Remember Kodak
Brownies?
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Stallion 45 MK-II Gold Plated Limited Edition
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And here
are photos of my G-45.
Please Click On Each Thumbnail For An Enlarged
View! |
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Some Great G-45
Photos
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Here's another series of photos
of a really nice G-45 set. I just can't quite get enough of this Cap Gun.
Really, the only thing that I regret is that I don't have the money to afford
another one. If any of you have a nice spare, I would appreciate it. Especially
a box! My Uncle Talley gave me the regular box, when it should have been the
correct one with the stripe and sticker on the back.
Photos by Rich
Hall |
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| Please Click On Each
Thumbnail For An Enlarged View! |
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Here is that
famous sticker on the bottom of the G-45 box that supposedly was to protect
retailers from the excise tax at the time. Now the main thing about the super
thin gold plating is what helps you to know that it is real.
Another photo
by our friend Rich Hall, one of our
advertisers.
These two photos show
you special Presentation Models of the Stallion MK-II versus a standard mint
version of the same gun. The presentation version were hand selected and then
buffed up to really look their best! They did the same basic touches to the
G-45.
Photos by our friend Steve
Arlin.
Here's a scan of an ad for the G-45 Stallion. Nobody seems to be
sure as to whether or not the G-45's were actually sold in stores, or if so,
how many. I haven't yet had a person tell me that they actually bought one in a
store.
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Okay, you wanted to see one that is PERFECT!
Well, here's one and we'll even up the "ante." This one has a hidden treasure
inside! Click on the box to find out what! |
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Special Stallion
45 MK-II and Box
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| All photos thanks to
Rich
Hall |
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Stallion 45 MK-II's are so
popular that people who do special restorations have even made special boxes
for them like this offering from
Jim Turner of www.CapGunService.com, one of our
advertisers.
And finally we have a really nice Stallion
MK-II in the original box. I decided to put a really BIG photo on here, but
make it a pop-up so that it wouldn't slow the page loading time any more than
is absolutely necessary.
Photo thanks to Ken Thompson
CLICK ON PHOTO TO SEE POP-UP
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Customized
Stallion 45 MK-II by Elvis Morehead
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These photos show what can
really be done with a good Cap Gun to begin with. Elvis has revamped this
Stallion 45 MK-II to really look like a Centennial Model sold by an auction
house or something.
Photos by Elvis Morehead |
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| Please Click On Each
Thumbnail For An Enlarged View! |
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PRICES
(These prices are merely guidelines to help beginners. Experts
don't need help!)
See PRICES for more info on
guidelines. |
| DESCRIPTION |
MINT VALUES |
AVG. VALUES |
| Stallion 45 MK-II (any grips) |
$275-350 |
$185-250 |
Stallion 45 MK-II (both sets of grips) w/
Box
Condition of box is supreme and can make or break the price
tag. |
$550-700 |
$235-325 |
| Stallion 45 bullets (zinc alloy) each |
$15-25 |
$10-15 |
| Stallion 45 G-45 w/ Bullets in Box w/ Gold
Stripe |
$6,000+ |
$2k-$5k |
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| We will be
happy to list toy shows and the like (free), if you will please send them to me
at: . |
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| Should you
have some nice photos and/or some text, please send them to me at:
. |
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