June 25-28, 2018 Firearms
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/26/2018
In the book entitled "The Colt Pocket Hammerless Automatic Pistols II" by John Brunner there is an entire chapter devoted the Shanghai Police Model 1908. This pistol was assembled in 1932. The Shanghai Police ordered this model from 1925 to 1938. They were engraved on the right side of the frame "SHANGHAI MUNICIPAL POLICE" with rack or unit number 2514, this same number is engraved on the right side of slide, but on the barrel it is engraved 2541 which we would assume is just an inversion of the two numbers. The distinctive features that were done at the Shanghai Arsenal include a barrel pressure spring inletted on left side of slide; tapped a hole with a set screw to keep the slide lock in the off position (hole present but screw is missing); a lanyard ring was installed on the lower left side of frame; and the magazine stamped "CAL. 380 COLT" on base has six view holes in a straight vertical line along front of slide and six vertical holes in back, this allowed inspectors to make sure the cartridges were not dummies. All of these special features are covered in the book. This pistol sports a pair of checkered molded composite grips that are cut-away for lanyard loop but are not pictured or discussed in book. This interesting little pre-war pistol remains in near new condition, retaining virtually all of the factory applied blue finish with razor sharp legends. Grips are near mint. Fine action and near mint bore. Scarce foreign shipped 1908 police Colt. From the G. Thomas Puett Collection.