Engraved Colt 1911

tone59

My local pawn shop recently took in a Colt 1911 pistol with considerable engraving.
They are asking $3000.
The SER# CLW004707.
Underneath one of the pearl grips are the engraved letters WC.
I plan to get some pictures tomorrow and then learn how to post them to this forum.
In the mean time I would sure appreciate hearing from anyone out there who can tell me anything about the gun.
I have not been able to find any similar SER#s

tone59

has anyone ever seen or heard of a 1911 pistol with no serial#
and i dont mean one that has been removed, one that was never there.
i think they call it a lunchbox pistol.
wondering how hard it would be to get a serial # for it???

Spider7115

I think that's the serial number for a Lightweight Commander.

This thread shows you how to post pictures: http://forums.GunBroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=259294

Here's the price list for a Colt letter (extra fee for factory engraved models): http://www.colt.com/Portals/0/colt%20media/publications/Archive%20Properties%202014%20Price%20List.pdf

As noted below, pictures posted in here should be your first move. I suspect that it is not factory engraved.

Hawk Carse

Colt SN lookup cannot make up its mind whether it is a 1969 Commander or a 1972 Commander. Proofhouse.com says 1969.

$3000 ought to get you a very fine factory engraved Colt.
$3000 would be a steal if that WC stood for Winston Churchill.
Either way, it would have to be fully documented.

perry shooter

For the most part Engraved guns don't bring what the gun without the engraving and added cost to have them engraved UNLESS
The engraving was done by a WELL KNOW engraver or Was done at the Colt Factory.IF your pictures are good enough we MAY be able to give our opinion on factory or Not.If you or the people that give their opinion Think it may be factory Then I would by all means get a colt letter on the pistol . We can tell you how to get a letter but that would cost money that you may not want to spend until you own the Pistol. We will wait for pictures Poor quality engraving will hurt the value. lower not raise it.

tone59

Yes Spider you are correct.
CLW...Commander Lightweight makes sense thank you.
I really don't know the difference from a Commander and a 1911.
Pawn shop believes DOM is 1969 but they are not certain.

EDIT:
thank you perry shooter.
I hope to get decent pics to post.
the engraving is a bit much for my taste.

Hawk Carse

The Colt Commander has a 4.25" barrel and an aluminum receiver instead of 5" and steel for the original Government Model.
For $3000 you should know what you are considering buying.

rufe-snow

quote:Originally posted by tone59
Yes Spider you are correct.
CLW...Commander Lightweight makes sense thank you.
I really don't know the difference from a Commander and a 1911.
Pawn shop believes DOM is 1969 but they are not certain.

EDIT:
thank you perry shooter.
I hope to get decent pics to post.
the engraving is a bit much for my taste.



Slide and barrel of the commander is approximately 3/4" shorter.

Frame is made out of aluminum.

Earliest Commanders date to 1950, 39 years after the original.





EDIT #1,

Best way to find out if the engraving is factory original. Is a Colt factory letter.

tone59

Hawk Carse...Thank you.

Since I was not looking for a heavily engraved Colt when this one showed up,I have no intention of paying any more than half of what its definitively worth.
The pawn shop owner pays 200-700 for just about any gun they get.
He seems to over pay for low end guns and get some good deals on the S&Ws and Colts.
I am thinking he went over his usual max and has around 1200-1300 in this one.
The owner does not like to research guns and would rather make fast money than good money.
I am interested if it is under valued at 3000.

nmyers

The Colt Combat Commander is an all-steel gun that is shorter than the full size Government Model. The Colt Lightweight Commander has a steel slide & aluminum frame. The nice thing is, Commanders use the same magazine as the Government Model.



Modern factory engraved Colts quickly lose value if they are even handled. If the seller let you rack the slide, or handle it without cotton gloves, the odds are good that it has been degraded. A serious collector brings his own lighted magnifying glass when considering a purchase. Be picky, folks will look even closer when you want to sell.

Neal

Hawk Carse

There was no Combat Commander in 1969, all were lightweights from 1950-1970 and no need to specify. Colt managed to go for several years without having to call the original Commander Model the Lightweight Commander, but eventually terms got turned around and the steel framed Combat Commander was more common, so they had to spell things out.

tone59

I took some pics today.
I have someone coming over to show me how to post them Friday evening.

The shop is allowing anybody to handle this gun without gloves.
To my uneducated eyes it looks like a cheap toy gun.
Everything is fully engraved.And I do mean everything.
It has a cart barrel.
It has fake mother of pearl plastic grips.
The skeleton trigger and adj.rearsight don't look like what would be on a 1969 Colt.
Maybe so?
Under the grip it says W.C. eng.
It is like cheap and fancy came together.
Its weird.
They had offered it for 3000 over the phone when they first took it in last week.
They have a 4800 tag on it.
Should have pics posted late Friday.