April 27-30, 2021 Extraordinary Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/27/2021
Manufactured 1912, and, according to Clawson, falling appropriately into one of the batches of 1000 pistols delivered to the U.S. Navy in 1912. U-notch rear sight with round top, blade front sight. Left side of slide with 2-line, 2-block address and patent information, with last patent date being February 1911. Rear on slide with pony in circle. Right side with "MODEL OF 1911. U.S. NAVY". "S" stamped under firing pin retaining plate, "H" stamped at top on channel. Barrel with "H" stamp on breech face, otherwise unmarked. Early long leg recoil spring and square punch bushing. Early relief milled slide release. Left side only safety with thin tab. Checkered magazine release with concave screw slot, long smooth milled trigger. Hammer with sharp tip and bordered checkering. Top of frame with "H" and "R" stamps, right side with "? 9242" left side of dust cover with "United States Property". Short 1911 grip safety, smooth flat mainspring housing with lanyard loop. Truncated diamond checkered walnut grips. 2-tone dual pinned base magazine with lanyard loop and distinct "keyhole" cutout. CONDITION: Very good to excellent, retaining the vast majority of the Colt bright blue finish with silvering consistent with holster use, at muzzle, dust cover, and along slide hood. Some normal silvering at reciprocating points. Grip straps and front of trigger guard with much patina from handling. Normal minor handling and operational marks such as takedown mark. Action works appropriately when cycled by hand, bore is good with visible strong rifling but frosting and some abrasions toward muzzle. Early Navy 1911 pistols are rare and very difficult to find in high condition as many of them spent long periods of time at sea. This is a fantastic example. EW
CORRECTION: Please note that the question mark is not indicative of an illegible character but is a character recognition failure of a "No" with a dash under the "O", correct for this pistol.