This is an example of a very rare Colt Government Model "Russian" contract semi-automatic pistol. In the 1914-1916 years, the Russian Army was severely short of arms and ammunition and was forced to purchase thousands of weapons from abroad based on credits that the Russian Government had negotiated with Great Britain. These credits were supported by the Gold reserves held in Russia, however all the contracts had to be placed with Great Britain on behalf of Russia. In this way Russia was able to purchase Colt pistols through Great Britain. So during the 1916-1917 timeframe Russia purchased approximately 51,000 Colt Model 1911 commercial pistols. These were standard Colt commercial models that didn't have any specific Russian acceptance proofs, however the left side of the frame is marked in Cyrillic letters "ANGL. ZAKAZY", which roughly translate to "Foreign Factory" in English. These are an extremely rare pistol as almost no examples were ever imported into this country. These pistols fall into the serial number range of "C23000 to C89000", with this example falling almost right in the middle of the production run. The left side of the slide has the two-line, two-block markings of "PATENTED APR. 20.1897. SEPT.9.1902, DEC. 19. 1905. FEB.14.1911. AUG 19.1913" followed by "COLT'S PT. F.A. MFG. CO./HARTFORD CT. U.S.A." with the Rampant Colt behind the rear of the slide serrations. The right side is marked "COLT AUTOMATIC/CALIBRE 45". The right side of the frame is marked as noted above and the left side is marked "GOVERNMENT MODEL/C-60466". It is fitted with a set of checkered walnut grips and it has the standard checkered thumb safety and slide stop lever with the wide checkered spur Colt hammer with the flat main spring housing.

Excellent with 90% plus of the original Colt factory blued finish overall with general edge and high spot wear, some very minor spotting on the right side of the slide and frame with some thinning and browning on the front grip strap. The grips are also in excellent condition with nice distinct checkering on both sides with only minor handling marks and nicks in a few places. A rare variation of a Colt Government Model Pistol!