Exceptional example of a very RARE, one of a kind "President Diaz" 1900 Mondragon presentation Carbine. Manuel Mondragon was a young officer in the Mexican Army that graduated from the military academy in Mexico in the early 1880's and was eventually sent to France to study in the French Military academy at St. Cyr. During this time, he was credited for helping to develop the French 75mm field gun and eventually designed an improved design for the Mexican Army. He was credited for designing one of the most advanced semi-automatic rifles in the world. At a time when most countries were just starting to transition from single shot rifles to bolt action rifles, this semi-automatic design was unique in that it was truly a semi automatic rifle with an adjustable gas system on the front end of the forend, which fired from an en bloc magazine (some thirty years ahead of the Pederson/Garand clip design) with a rotating bolt system that had multiple locking lugs. In this case, the bolt has four locking lugs at the front and four at the rear. The receiver is actually fully machined with bolt/receiver rails on the right side that mated with the bolt. His first model semi-automatic rifle, the Model 1890, was the first semi-automatic rifle to be adopted by any nation. Mondragon chose SIG to make his rifles as it was one of the few arms makers at that time capable of producing arms of exacting tolerances which is required to make this model of rifle function properly. This 1900 model is actually a very early production carbine that has a short 21-3/4 inch barrel compared to the earlier 29-34 inch barreled rifles. This model also appears to have an improved bolt that requires less parts than the earlier versions. There are NO serial numbers present on the various parts, however the top of the receiver is marked "CARABINA/PORFIRIO-DIAZ/MODELO NO.3-1900" clearly representing that this was a presentation piece that was intended to be given to "President Diaz of Mexico" and which was probably the original Prototype Carbine design. It has a large adjustable military style tangent rear sight that is unmarked for any range or meters with a fixed front sight blade. The bolt remains in the original "in the white" polish typical of this time with a nicely rust blued metal finish, with one middle barrel band and the front barrel band/Gas block system with gas adjusting system under the barrel with side mounted sling swivels and a one piece 3/4 length stock and handguard. This particular gun is featured on page 89 of "Bewffnung un Ausrustung der Schweizer Armee seit 1817; Automatwaffen: Maschinenpistolen, Selbstladegewehre" by Chrisitan Reinhart and Michael arn Rhyn. The book clearly shows the presentation on the rear of the receiver.

Excellent overall with approximately 97% of the original blued finish with wear on the edges and high spots, with some wear and browning on the bottom of the magazine, trigger guard and buttplate. The stock is near excellent and complete with the typical handling marks, light pressure dents, and scratches overall from over 100 years of collector handling and light field use. The front section of the handguard has a couple of minor cracks starting at the front with a small one running down to the middle barrel band. An exceptional example of a super RARE semi-automatic Mondragon Carbine.