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LOT 1290
Highly Desirable First Year Production, Four Digit Serial Number “No.1651”, U.S. Navy Contract Colt Model 1911 Semi-Automatic Pistol - Serial no. 1651, 45 ACP cal., 5 inch round bbl., blue finish, walnut grips. Manufactured in 1912, the first official year of production for the U.S. military contract Colt Model 1911 pistols. This example falls within the serial range of 1,501 to 2,000 listed on page 158 of “U.S. Military Automatic Pistols: 1894-1920” by Meadows as being included in the second U.S. Navy shipment of 500 pistols, sent to the U.S. Navy Yard of Brooklyn, Navy York, on April 10, 1912. The serial number has the early “No.” (“o” with period) prefix which ended with serial number 4501. The left side of the frame has the U.S. property marking and “WGP” inspection mark. The slide has the two-line, two-block patent dates and address on the left with the circled “rampant colt” behind the slide serrations, along with model and U.S. Navy nomenclature on the right. The blued barrel is marked “5” on the bottom and “H” on the rear edge of the chamber hood. Features a blade front and the correct early round-top notch rear sight, which was phased out in 1913. Fitted with niter blue long smooth trigger, checkered slide release and thumb safety, short grip safety, magazine catch with correct slot-less retaining screws, wide checkered hammer, and a smooth straight mainspring housing with a lanyard loop on the base. The grips are diamond pattern checkered walnut and the two-tone magazine has a lanyard loop on the pinned base.
CONDITION: Very fine, retains 70% plus original high polish blue finish and 60% of the original niter-blue remaining on the small parts with light edge wear on the slide, smooth brown
patina, numerous scattered specks of dark rust oxidation, and otherwise minor handling
marks. The grips are very fine with a few minimal dents in the otherwise crisp checkering. Mechanically excellent. Many of the early U.S. Navy Colt 1911 pistols saw extensive service
careers in corrosive salt water environments, making higher condition correct examples like this extremely difficult to obtain for even advanced U.S. military collectors!
Estimate: 15,000 - 25,000
Serial Number 1651
Only 15,037 U.S. Navy contract Model 1911 Pistols were produced with the Navy slide marking, compared to the approximately 578,473 with the standard U.S. Army nomenclature.
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