New Arrivals

WW1 US Model Colt 1911 Pistol w/ Holster and Story Identified

Serial #398213, .45 ACP. 5" barrel with a very good, bright bore that has a small amount of freckling within the grooves.  This is a 1918-made pistol that was brought back from France by Pvt. Thomas Gordon Little, Bty. A, 54th Coastal Artillery Company.  The metal retains about 30-40% of the original black finish, mostly on protected areas, and the balance having faded to a dull gray patina with silvering along the high edges and bearing surfaces.  The checkered, double-diamond walnut grips are in very good shape with minor handling marks on either panel, as well as light-moderate flattening of the points.  The pistol comes with a single two-tone flat-base magazine, and is housed in a brown leather US holster with 1917 date and Warren Leather Goods Co. maker stamp.  The inside of the holster has a name written neatly in black ink: "Lt. E.B. RILEY. F.A."  Additionally, the pistol is accompanied by a lengthy transcript of a 1982 tape recorded by Little in the year he died, describing his enlistment in the Oregon Coastal Artillery, and eventual WW1 service.  In it, he relates that he acquired the pistol on board the ship bringing him home to the USA from another soldier who had presumably come into possession of it under less than honest circumstances, and had become nervous at the prospect of an inspection of personal effects during the voyage.  A further 2006 letter from Little’s son relates that the soldier his father got the pistol from was a truck driver who had taken the gun from a deceased soldier’s effects at an aid station.  Subsequent research has revealed that there was indeed a 2nd. Lt. Edmund B. Riley of Bty. K, 339th Field Artillery, who was also from Oregon, but that he survived the war and left France aboard the S.S. Duca D’Aosta in February of 1919 (a copy of Riley’s entry on the ship’s passenger list is included).  This is a very good WW1 Model 1911 overall, with a rather convoluted ownership history, and would make a great addition to any collection.  FFL or C&R

SOLD

Tags: Colt 1911 .45 ACP U.S. Military WW1