This is a super early, first year production Colt "Government Model" 1911 type pistol that was 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. 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 back side, the short horned grip safety and the early wide spur hammer with the fine borderless 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: "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 (C796) 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 the correct early all blued Colt barrel that is marked with only a capital letter "N" on the underside in front of the barrel lug. This early Colt Government Model comes with a later pattern, blued, half-tone unmarked Colt magazine, with the early double pinned baseplate.

Fine with 30% plus of the original blued finish overall with even wear and blue loss overall. 40% of the original nitre blue remains on the small parts. The front grip straps do show extensive light dings. The markings are clear and distinct overall. The grips are fair showing extensive wear across both sides. The pistol, although showing wear from use and firing, is mostly original, which is difficult to find today, as most were reblued or had some parts changed or swapped out.