This is a super early first year production Colt "Government Model" 1911 type pistol manufactured in 1912. These early Colt Government pistols in any condition are extremely difficult to obtain as they saw heavy commercial use by law enforcement agencies at that time when first introduced. They were some of the best semi-automatic pistols that Colt ever produced. They have all hand fitted parts with the beautiful and very distinctive early Colt high polish commercial blue finish overall with the fragile nitre blue on the trigger, rear of the ejector, thumb safety, hammer and slide stop. They were fitted with a set of fine checkered walnut grips. This example has all the early features such as: early style Colt slide markings, narrow, rounded half-moon front sight, rounded rear sight with the small round sight cut, thin checkered thumb safety with the sharp edge, and milled undercuts, first pattern recoil spring guide, the early short checkered slide stop release, without the dimpled on the back side, the short horned grip safety and the early wide spur hammer with the fine, border-less checking. The right side of the slide is marked "COLT AUTOMATIC/CALIBRE 45", and the left side has the early two-line, two-block markings of: "PATENTED APR.20 1897/SEPT. 9 1902/DEC.19, 1905. FEB.14 1911" followed by "COLT'S PT. F.A. MFG. CO./HARTFORD, CT. U.S.A." with the Rampant Colt behind the slide serrations. The front left side of the frame is marked with the very rare, early first style Colt serial number (C891) with serifs, and "GOVERNMENT MODEL" is on the right side of the frame. The left trigger guard bow is stamped with the Colt "VP/Triangle" proofmark, and a "K" is stamped on the lower left part of the trigger guard. It is fitted with a later military contract barrel that is stamped with a single "S" and "P" on the left side of the lug. This super early Colt is complete with an early type 2 "Punch and Saw Cut" half-blued magazine that has the early indent on the top right side feed lip. It still has the early double pinned baseplate with the lanyard loop on the underside.

Very fine overall with 80% of the original Colt high polish blue finish, edge and high spot wear overall, blue loss on the front edges of the slide, thinning on the front grip strap, and a very thin blue/brown patina on the mainspring housing and upper area of the grip safety. The smaller parts noted above all retain 85% plus of the fragile original nitre blue finish overall. The grips are in fine condition with nice distinct checkering overall mixed with some minor pressure dents on both sides and light wear across the tops of the checkering. A very fine early example of a scarce and very desirable Colt Government Model semi-automatic pistol.