June 25-28, 2018 Firearms
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/25/2018
Often misunderstood, this commercial Colt ordered for the Argentine Navy in 1941 is actually as a rare as a Singer or North American Arms. According to records, the Argentine Navy ordered 500 "off the shelf" Colt commercial Model 1911's in two shipments; they were then marked on the top of the slide with the Argentine crest and the right side of the slide is stamped "REPUBLICA ARGENTINA ARMADA NATIONALE - 1941". Of these 500 pistols, the majority were recalled for inspection and parkerized leaving the existing supply of Colt made and factory blue examples even smaller. It is a true prize for military Colt collectors due to the small number of pistols ordered. This pistol has matching slide and is equipped with the Swartz safety that was first experimented with in 1936. All other features are identical to any Colt Commercial Model 1911A1 manufactured in 1941 as they were completely built by the Colt factory. This rare example still retains 75-80% of its original Colt factory blue finish with razor sharp legends. All pre-war checkered parts and checkered walnut grips. The blued barrel is simply stamped "COLT .45 AUTO". The majority of wear on this pistol can be found on the grips straps with overall high edge wear. Fine bore and action. One of the hardest to find, unadulterated pre-war Colts.