Greetings All,
There was a time, in the early years of USFA, when Douglas Donnelly took it upon himself to acquire the rights to historically significant names of defunct firearms manufacturers. F&W for one, U.S. Cartridge Company, Maxim Silencers and who knows what else?
Donnelly owned the F&W name and apparently wanted to do something with it. So... He (or somebody else) created this fictitious "historical" revolver that would bear the F&W name.
I remember seeing a photo, taken several years ago at USFA's Shot Show display, of their proposed F&W "prototype." It looked to me to be a cross between a Colt SAA, F&W and a Merwin & Hulbert. Neither fish nor foul, just a mix-match of several designs that looked nothing like the photograph above, or an original F&W. Somewhat of an historical abomination (and somewhere, back in the bowels of our forum, I seem to recall leaving a review). I can only assume that the pistol, pictured above, was the result of Donnelly's desire to put one if his "acquired" names to use. What a sad use of USFA's resources, creating a pistol that never exited, and probably one of the reasons that folly such as this led to their ultimate demise.
CJF