vintage 1911 worth

[nekshot]

a elderly man I have become acquanted with said he had something he wanted me to see. He handed me a box and in it was a govt issue 1911 pistol that looked almost new. It almost felt sacred to hold it and work the slide which felt like it was gliding on oil. He was sure it was his fathers from ww1. It definetly was cared for, no holster ware but the grips were a wee bit used looking. What is a honest price for that pistol?

[Zouave 58]

Hard to say since so much depends on its condition. Collectors would want to see the pistol with all of the parts it was originally manufactured with still in place and no other parts added later. Collectors would pay more for a scarce manufacturer than a more prolific manufacturer. Collectors would pay more for an early pistol rather than a late manufactured pistol. Of course, the amount of original finish still intact means a lot. So to give you a ball park number is kind of hard without seeing the pistol but let's suppose you have a 1917 made Colt in all original condition then the price range might be 1200-4500 or so depending on condition. You might want to take the pistol to a knowledgeable dealer to have it appraised.

[DougGuy]

PICS would do wonders for opinions.. Thread like this is hogtied without pics. Decent pics not quickie phone pics.

[bouncer50]

Boy, that a hard one to answer. without pictures and marking on the slide and frame serial number check. Gee, i would guess 600 and a lot more. A lot of collector would love to have a world war 1 almost new Colt 45 auto cheap.

[Char-Gar]

a elderly man I have become acquanted with said he had something he wanted me to see. He handed me a box and in it was a govt issue 1911 pistol that looked almost new. It almost felt sacred to hold it and work the slide which felt like it was gliding on oil. He was sure it was his fathers from ww1. It definetly was cared for, no holster ware but the grips were a wee bit used looking. What is a honest price for that pistol?

There is absolutely no way to place a reasonable price without a complete description and some pictures.

[Petrol & Powder]

Blued or parkerized (sp?)

1911 or 1911A1?

Marked U.S. Property?

Colt, Remington, other make?

acceptance / inspection marks?

I got questions.

[Petrol & Powder]

There's a slight possibility that it is the firearm equivalent of a 62 Corvette in a garage with 35 original miles on it.....
BUT, it is far more likely to be the firearm equivalent of a 1968 Impala on its 3rd paint job and second re-built engine, which would still be a cool find but not worth as much.

[bouncer50]

When i was a kid some stores had a big jar of jelly beans. If you could guess how many jelly beans in the jar you won a big prize.

[nekshot]

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[DougGuy]

I can tell it's a 1911 and not a 1911 A1. That's about all that can be seen in those pics. I cannot read the serial number, roll marking on the right side of the frame, nothing. Can't see ordnance marks. Like looking at a pic of a car from across the walmart parking lot.

[scattershot]

Looks like it may hqve been reblued at some point. Your best bet would be to have it professionally appraised. If it has been reblued, it would lower the value considerably.

[nekshot]

sorry about the pic quality but at the time I was really struggling with pain and I am surprised I even thought to take pictures. I will get it again and get better pics. My wife worked the slide and smilled very approvingly, that is the first step! She is a exellant handgun shooter. He wants my son to see it and I'll get better pics then. He is in his 90's and its not my uncle Marlin from Bloody Ridge and Beyond although he would highly approve of it!

[therealhitman]

When i was a kid some stores had a big jar of jelly beans. If you could guess how many jelly beans in the jar you won a big prize.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?272266-Take-your-guess :guntootsmiley:

[captaint]

Looks like a 1911 all right. Also, may have been polished/refinished somewhere along the way. Nice gun...

[bob208]

it looks like a post ww1 pistol. the rampant pony is in the middle of the slide. pre ww1 the rampant pony was behind the serrations on the slide. and it does look like a reblue. also it does not have the lanyard loop on the magazine.

[Char-Gar]

Well it is a Colt and it is a 1911, that much is for certain. The serial number would give the date of manufacture and some nice clear pics of the markings would tell if it is military or civilian.

Like others, it has the looks of a reblue. It lacks the crisp appearance of a factory finish. The color doesn't look right either, but with pics you can never be certain about that.

[nekshot]

I am really glad I shared this because I was taken back at the deep black (like a colt python) finnish as the only real war 1911 I saw came from ww2 and was parkerized. Should I blot any numbers out of the serial number for safety or for whatever reason that is done?

[Rick Hodges]

I would blot out the last 3 numbers..before posting on the net.

[waksupi]

I would blot out the last 3 numbers..before posting on the net.

Why do that, Rick? I do see people block out portions of serial numbers, and never understood why?

[mozeppa]

this one was mine...for a while. traded it for a new colt 45 acp ...new ruger colt blackhawk and ruger mark iv target 22 pistols.

thats what it was worth to me.

the slides were NOT hardened so really it was risky to shoot on fear of cracking the slide and the really old ones really had very
little in the ways of lands and grooves...not too accurate.

so i traded my "safe queen" for 3 that i could shoot ...not sorry i dood it!

[bob208]

it is only been in the last few years that I heard of this colts not being hardened. I have shoot withguys that had there early 1911s built into bullseye and plate guns some handed down never heard or seen a cracked slide.

[MtGun44]

It is clearly a 1911, not A1 and I believe that the earliest 1911s were
factory blued, parking came later.

SN is necessary to date it. If original finish, the value is far higher than
if reblued.

[DougGuy]

Nekshot next time you get to see the gun, take a pin with you and push the firing pin in and slide the firing pin stop down and look to see if the slide is numbered. See if it matches the number on the frame. I had an A1 1943 Colt production that was numbered to the frame, 6 digits behind the firing pin stop.

[wv109323]

The early 1911's were polished blue and were not pakerized till much later. Some bluing was so dark that it was called "Colt Black".
Value depends on the originality of all the parts especially the barrel. The parts that I can see look original. Original magazines add a lot of value. The market is crazy and values are really high.
Head over to 1911.com and they have a vintage section. Educate yourself. Every mark and stamp on the pistol means something. If you have the pistol write everything mark. There is even some marks that vary in size. That is a "G" under the barrel.
If it is original, price would start at 1500 and the sky is the limit depending on what it is. Value could well be $4500 and some has gone for $15,000.

[Char-Gar]

The early 1911's were polished blue and were not pakerized till much later. Some bluing was so dark that it was called "Colt Black".
Value depends on the originality of all the parts especially the barrel. The parts that I can see look original. Original magazines add a lot of value. The market is crazy and values are really high.
Head over to 1911.com and they have a vintage section. Educate yourself. Every mark and stamp on the pistol means something. If you have the pistol write everything mark. There is even some marks that vary in size. That is a "G" under the barrel.
If it is original, price would start at 1500 and the sky is the limit depending on what it is. Value could well be $4500 and some has gone for $15,000.

The early 1911s both military and commercial were polished and blued. Those made during WWI for the military had what Colt called a "War Finish", which was nothing more but hitting the parts on a sanding belt and then bluing them. This same "War Finish" was used by Colt on the 1917 revolvers produced for military use during WWI. Smith and Wesson continued to polish and blue their 1917 revolvers produced for military use during WWI.

The difficult with the 1911 is not that is is blued, but that the blue does not appear to be original. The surfaces of the pistol have the look of being polished and blued over some shallow pits and the markings are not sharp and crisp.

Here is a Colt 1917 with the original "war finish".

[oldred]

Just looking at those pics I would bet a new $20 bill against a stale doughnut that it's a re-blue. That was the first thing that hit me when I saw the first pic and the second one pretty much cinched it and then several more folks here are apparently seeing the same thing. Of course it's ENTIRELY possibly that all of us are wrong about that and considering all the possibilitys that particular 1911 is a definite candidate for a real first hand evaluation by an expert!

[nekshot]

you fellas are teaching me alot about these guns, I am going over tomorrow and I will try get good pictures for your inspection!

[44 Special]

you fellas are teaching me alot about these guns, I am going over tomorrow and I will try get good pictures for your inspection!

Can you also post some pictures of it disassembled? Particularly the frame and barrel.

[nekshot]

Ok, hope this helps. I am really struggling with pain right now but I want to help my friend out so here are the pics.134560134562134563134564134565134566134566134 567134561

[Char-Gar]

What you have is a Colt 1911 pistol, made in 1918. At some point in it's life it was refinished and the "United States Property" stamp on the left side of the frame was removed and the handgun reblued. This modification will sharply decrease it's value. I don't follow the prices on these things, so I will let others speak to that.

Here is a pic of what the pistol looked like before the refinish. It is a late 1918 Colt 1911. It has the "war finish", I referenced in my post (No. 25) above. Click the thumbnail for a larger and more clear view.

[nekshot]

thank you very much for pointing these issues out. He won't be upset because I don't think it has much sentimental value to him. He did sound today like he would possibly be interested in selling it, so all I need is a realistic price range and I will pass the info on.

[Char-Gar]

Any handgun I own has sentimental value, because it once belonged to me. :-)

[ShooterAZ]

I had a US Property marked 1911 made in 1916 that I sold a few years back for $3500 at auction. Mine was all original, never reblued. Condition was probably 75-80%....so you never know what they might bring. They are becoming very collectible.

[Love Life]

Shooter grade 1911. I'd list in on Gunbroker, set a reserve if you like, and let the bidding begin.

[Petrol & Powder]

At the very least it has been through at least 1 arsenal re-build and maybe more after that. Either it didn't get parkerized around WWII or it was striped and finished again later, hard to say. The WWI pistols were blued but a LOT were parkerized later on. Some escaped the refinishing but you must keep in mind the total numbers made were in the tens of thousands even before 1918. In any event, a cool piece of history in its own right but probably not a pristine unmolested WWI collectable example.
Several years ago I was in search of a WWI or inter-war 1911 but got out of that game due to the high prices and numerous fakes. It has some historical value even with its unknown linage but it is not a $3000 gun.

[Bigslug]

Refinished, with an early-ish post-WWI replacement barrel, and the U.S. Property stamp gone. . . Otherwise, it looks like it's got the correct late-WWI to 1919 era parts.

The serious collectors won't get excited, but it will draw the less hard core ones. I've seen uglier bring over a grand. It IS still a very well made handgun manufactured by real machinists, and that's got some pull.

[Mtnfolk75]

My BIL has his Dad's GI 1911 that he inherited in 2009. Before the FIL passed I shot the pistol a few times and did some research on it. IIRC, it was a 1917 frame with a 1914 slide that had been Parkerized. I believe it went through the arsenal refinish during WWII, and was reassembled from the parts barrels after Parkerizing. It is a good shooter.

[nekshot]

Thank you all for your info and especially the pics from your guns. I think I will tell him the replacement barrel is a not good but kinda ok, the killer is the grinding off the markings and of course the reblue. I believe what I hear any thing over 1000 dollars would be a fair price. It still has a really good feeling when you handle it that new RIA's and such don't have. Maybe thats in my head! Thanks everyone!

[Love Life]

I see $1,000+ being a reasonable expectation. Arsenal rebuilds of newer vintage with mismatched slides, frames, and barrels are fetching $1,000.

[gray wolf]

Nice to see the old girl survived over time, but it does look like a re-work/re-blue
and perhaps some other parts have been changed.

Not top shelf in the money arena, but sure nice to have or even be next to.


Sam