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THIS EARLY PRODUCTION PISTOL HAS MULTIPLE RARE FEATURES INCLUDING: THE LARGER COLT LEGEND (USED UNTIL SERIAL NUMBER 84) THEN WAS SWITCHED TO MATCH THE SIZE OF THE PATENT DATES, & THE LARGE "UNITED STATES PROPERTY" MARKING (USED UNTIL SERIAL NUMBER 104)
By the time of his death in 1941, William Augustus Mitchell had been promoted to brigadier general and was buried at the West Point post cemetery. The pistol itself bears all the extremely early features one would expect to see on an example with a serial number this low.
The left side of the slide has the two-line, two-block patent dates and address, with the address in a slightly larger font as seen on pistols
only below serial number 83. The left side of the frame has the large size “UNITED STATES PROPERTY” marking, which was switched to a smaller font at serial number 100. Walter G. Penfield’s “WGP” monogram inspector’s mark is also on the left of the frame in its early 90 degree clockwise rotated format, which was seen on only the first 100 Model 1911’s produced. The serial number is in the early “No.14” format and forward location on the right of the frame which were changed at
serial numbers 4501 and 7501 respectively. The right side of the slide is marked with the iconic “MODEL OF 1911. U.S. ARMY”. The pistol shows the early lustrous, high polish, mirror-like blue finish and fiery nitre blue small parts. The barrel is a fully blued later production replacement with conjoined “HP” on the chamber. It is fitted with fixed blade and round top notch rear sights, the early hand-checkered slide stop and thumb safety which were only seen on the first 150 pistols, the “dimpled” magazine catch which was seen on pistols up to serial number 3189, wide checkered hammer, short grip safety, smooth flat mainspring housing with a lanyard loop, a pair of double-diamond pattern checkered walnut grips, and a correct early two-tone “exposed baseplate” magazine with a lanyard loop, as issued with only the
first 4,500 pistols. The included factory letter confirms the current configuration (grips not listed) when shipped to the Commanding Officer at Springfield Armory on 4 January 1912 in a 50 gun shipment. The second shipment to Captain W.A. Mitchell is listed on p. 235 of “The Government Models: The Development of the Colt Model of
1911” by William Goddard. Also included is a copy of the Register of the Army of the United
States for 1912, which lists Mitchell’s
promotions up to captain.
CONDITION: Exceptionally fine,
retains 75% plus of the bright
original high polish blue finish and 60% plus of the original nitre blue on the small parts with the balance having
thinned through years in the service of the United States to mostly a smooth grey patina, primarily on edges and the grip straps, and crisp markings overall. The later production replacement grips are very fine with a few scattered light handling marks, a small chip
absent near the lower right screw, and crisp checkering overall. Mechanically excellent. This is a rare opportunity to own one of the earliest U.S. Colt Model 1911 semi-automatic pistols we have ever catalogued. Do not miss this opportunity to own this iconic piece of
U.S. military history!
Provenance: The Dr. Robert Azar Collection.
Estimate: 85,000 - 130,000
SERIAL NUMBER LISTED IN THE BOOK THE GOVERNMENT MODELS BY GODDARD
367