Per the included factory letter, this pistol was part of a 24 piece shipment to the "Resident Inspector of Ordnance" at Remington Arms in Bridgeport, Connecticut. This places it as part of a very limited run of late World War II Super 38 pistols ordered by the U.S. government. 400 were ordered total, 24 delivered to Remington and the remainder to the Military Administrative & Supply Division at the Fowler Building in Rosslyn, Virginia. Douglas Sheldon's book "Colt's Super 38" (pg 107) provides some insight into the order, though some hard details are absent, including why such a large portion of the order was sent factory direct to Remington. It is speculated that when the government ordered its batch of Super 38s there was a massive typo in the ammunition order to Remington which made them think they were on the hook to make and quality assure over 32 million rounds of ammo; Remington went in expecting to need 24 pistols for ammo testing, and likely expected to shoot every last one to death to meet the demand. Once the confusion was sorted out (and after Remington made nearly 2 million rounds of 38 Super), 20 of the pistols were routed through Springfield to the Pentagon, with their final disposition unknown. It has been speculated that the original destination of these pistols was the OSS; the Fowler Building acted as one of their warehouses, and they would have greater need of non-standard weaponry than most government outfits. The final fate of most of the U.S. 38 Super pistols is unknown; out of the 24 Remington-shipped pistols and the 376 Fowler Building-shipped pistols, only 13 (5 Remington, 8 Fowler) were identified in collections by Sheldon at the time of publishing (1997), suggesting that this pistol is fresh to the market. Very, rare in any condition, this particular U.S. Super 38 made it through the decades in prime condition; finding another one, let alone a better one, is unlikely. Fixed blade front sight and flat top square notch rear sight on the matching serialized slide, with the caliber marking on the right and the two-line Colt address and patent dates on the left. A Swartz-pattern firing pin safety is installed. The barrel shows a limited amount of cycling wear, with a fine factory bright polished chamber hood and "COLT SUPER 38 AUTO" on the left side. The frame is "GHD" (Drury) inspected with the Ordnance "cannons" stamp on the right, and fitted with a thin knurled hammer, short stamped trigger, long grip safety, arched serrated mainspring housing, and reinforced Colt grips. All three included magazines are full blue finished, with "COLT/SUPER/38 AUTO" on the pinned bases. Also included with the pistol is a plain brown cardboard "kraft" box with the matching serial number in wax pencil on the underside and regular pencil on the side of the lid, green waxed paper wrapper, and a Colt Super 38 instruction sheet.

Excellent, with 99% of the original high polish factory blue finish. Wear is limited to light cycling on the barrel and slide, a thin takedown line on the frame, and a few spots of oxidization and high-point rubbing. Some turn marks are present on the screws, with slight chipping of the upper right screw, otherwise the grips are excellent with crisp checking. The very fine original box shows wear and staining appropriate to age. Mechanically excellent. A potential cornerstone piece for an American handgun collection, with rarity and condition both in the extreme.