M1911 magazine - but which type?

[Promo]

Just picked up my recently purchased M1911A1 from US&S, only to find out it came with an additional magazine. When checking the one which was in the rifle, I saw that it was an early duo-tone magazine, still with the lanyard on the bottom. What was very interesting, is the bottom. I've never seen one like his before. Can you help me with who for who manufactured these? It doesn't have a key hole.


Edit: I edited the title of this thread from "M1911 magazine - but which type?" to "M1911 exposed floor magazine". The reason for this is that people who might be interested in seeing one can more easily find it, as a picture reference.

[Duane Hansen]

That is a very early Colt 1911 mag. The exposed base mags are a very desirable collectible and they are selling at a premium. I've seen very nice ones go for close to $1000

[Promo]

You must be kidding me?! I paid € 1432 (equals $ 1560) for this pistol, cannot believe (up to) 2/3 of this price are for a magazine?

Up to which serial were they used?

[Allen]

Issued through serial number 4500. This is the first type used on Colts in 1912. You got lucky and can make some of your money back. Don't use it though, they tend to crack at the back side at the top where the loading "lips" are. Whoever sold you this pistol was not aware of the worth of the mag nor the US&S. Nice ones w/o the collector magazines sell for $4000 and more.

[Promo]

The US&S was in an online auction here in Europe. They do not bring that much as in the US, but should usually bring minimum € 2000. It was not well advertised, and I assume nearly noone over here would have recognized that.

Well, so I then should probably consider selling this magazine :).

[Allen]

The US&S was in an online auction here in Europe. They do not bring that much as in the US, but should usually bring minimum € 2000. It was not well advertised, and I assume nearly noone over here would have recognized that.

Well, so I then should probably consider selling this magazine :).

Up to you on the magazine. One that hasn't cracked yet will be worth more. They are very scarce and only correct for pistols 103 years old. If you decide to sell it I would post it where folks outside of Europe could bid on it since it will bring in more $ and I would put a reserve price on it so you don't sell it for too little.

[Promo]

I'd anyway prefer to sell it to some of the folks here. I've sold items to the US before, always without a problem - up to M1A1 stocks. But not sure if some are here who could use it?

Edit: added some more pictures.

[Johnny P]

Looks like it already has a crack.

http://i58.tinypic.com/54yqnl.jpg

[gbethu]

list it on gun broker or on e bay.....it will sell....E Bay may actually have a larger audience for this....either way. Good for you !!!

[Duane Hansen]

They can be repaired but it will never have near the value of one that has never had any cracking. It still has some value the way it is. Probably more in the $200 to $300 range, as is......In My Opinion.....Some would most likely buy it and use it for display only and not bother with trying to do any repairs on it. Remember that it will only be original once.

[Promo]

This crack isn't started yet. I tried to picture it. Attached the last few pictures which I wasn't able to post yesterday.

Well, if someone here feels as if he needs it, get in contact with me. If not, it will stay with me :).

[1563621]

Very Nice Find!

[Promo]

Thank you!

I also changed the title of this thread, in case people are looking for reference pictures they should be able to find it more easily. This way I can give some of the help back I've been offered here, and a special thanks goes out to Duane Hansen.

[westgard]

Very lucky find!! Nice!

[Mike Josephic]

An exposed floor plate magazine recently sold on E-Bay for $1,700. They are quite
rare.

[Promo]

I also read that someone auctioned two on gunbroker.com, where one sold for $1,500 and one for $1,700. Quite amazing for just a magazine, even in my wildest dreams would have never expected that!

[tbone69]

put it on GB and make sure to title it correctly to maximize the draw. you should fetch well over $1000. ebay is good too but they rob alot in fees.

[Promo]

I don't like selling on auction sites, don't ask me why. 99% of my items I sell are personally or via forums. Just too much work on auction sites and you get a hell lot of stupid question, plus the item then sells to someone anonymous and you never hear of it again. Compared to when you sell it to someone on a forum - you'll probably see it a few times more often than you'd expect it to. And you get a lot of nice contacts that way. And for this I rather get a few bucks less, but enjoy it much more.

Edit: and I enjoy the idea of someone having a pistol missing this magazine and finally reading this thread here and being able to recomplete his pistol much more than to know that it ends up in a display of someone among 10 additional spare magazines of that type. Wouldn't you all aswell?