There’s no more iconic American pistol than the 1911. Period. End of story. Well, OK. It’s not the end of the story. In fact, there’s quite a bit of history to the story. This 1911 served as the official sidearm of U.S. armed forces for 76 years — longer than any other ever. It’s an amazing record, and it’s one that is unlikely to ever be broken.
The Colt Model of 1911 was officially adopted for military service in March 1911. While some in the service were hesitant to embrace this new semi-auto design, they didn’t have much of a choice. The American consumer and gun owner, on the other hand, did have a choice, and they were on board almost immediately.
Colt began offering a civilian version of the Model of 1911, calling it the Government Model. To differentiate between guns owned by the United States and guns owned by civilians, the serial numbers on Government Model pistols had a C-prefix. Other than the prefix and the lack of U.S. property markings, the two guns were identical.
The March Collection has an incredibly early one of these Government Models up for grabs. Bearing serial number C104, it is not only a three-digit gun but it is also a rare low-number three-digit gun.
Collector’s Elite Three-Digit Colt Government 1911
According to the factory letter that comes with the gun, serial number C104 was shipped from the Hartford factory on May 31, 1912. Despite being just shy of 113 years old, this Government Model is in exceptional shape. It retains most of its original blue finish and there’s still some of the fire blue accents on the trigger, slide stop and safety.
It’s rare to find a gun of this age with all of its original parts, but that’s exactly what we have here with this time capsule pistol. It has the original barrel, hammer, magazine catch, slide stop, checkered walnut diamond grips, grip screws and sights. Simply put, this gun is a dream for high-condition and original-condition collectors.
Adding to the collectability of this pistol is the shipping information on the factory letter. The gun was sent out on a Loan Account to Mr. William Sherer, Jr. Having spent 23 years at Winchester, it was time for a change. In 1912, Mr. Sherer was a Sales Manager for Colt. This gun was likely the one that he used as his salesman’s sample. There are far fewer verified salesman’s sample Government Model pistols on the market than regular Government Models, so this gun is just checking box after box for the collectors’ market.
This three-digit Colt Government checks a number of boxes.
- Low overall serial number
- Three-digit serial number
- Factory letter
- High condition
- Original parts
- Salesman’s sample
It doesn’t get much more impressive than that. For many collectors, this gun would certainly qualify as the Holy Grail. Perhaps the best part of all is that you don’t have to be Henry Jones, Sr. — father of Indiana Jones — to find this Holy Grail. It’s right here in the March Collection of Collector’s Elite Auctions.
