This is a beautiful example of an extremely early production Colt Government Model pistol that was manufactured in 1912. This was the first year of this desirable pistol design that would go on to span over 80 years of use by the military, law enforcement and civilian shooters. The left side of the slide has the early Colt two line, two block markings "PATENTED APR.20.1897/SEPT.9.1902 DEC.19.1905 FEB.14.1911" followed by the two line Colt factory address with the circled Rampant Colt stamped behind the serrations. The right side of the slide is stamped "COLT AUTOMATIC/CALIBRE .45" directly under the ejection port. The left side of the frame has the early very light serial number "C183" with "GOVERNMENT MODEL", marked on the right side. The upper left front of the trigger guard bow is marked with the Colt triangle "VP" proofmark with the letter "K" on the rear lower left. This beautiful pistol has all the early features such as the early barrel with the milled finish on the chamber area, the polished and blue barrel with a single small "N" inspector mark on the underside in front of the lugs, the early rounded rear sight, tapered oval front sight, smooth uncheckered long trigger, early checkered slide stop without the indent on the back side for the plunger, the type three thumb safety with the machining cuts on the underside and back side, the wide hammer spur with full checkering and short horned grip safety. It is complete with an early half-tone blue magazine and pinned base plate with a lanyard ring on the base. It is fitted with the original checkered walnut grips with the smaller diamond patterns around the screws. These early Colt automatic pistols have the high polished blue finish overall with the hammer, trigger, thumb safety, magazine release button and slide stop lever, all having the early and very desirable Colt niter blued finish.