Finally, won a lot of three or four

[Olle]

Found a better picture where the left hand slide legend shows, and it says "COLT PAT: 1908". I seriously doubt that Colt patented the Ruby design, but maybe the manufacturer copied something from a Colt and tried to cover his butt by stamping it like that. Who knows.

I would lean toward a "Chinese style" knock-off (like all those strangely marked C96 copies), but the US Property stamp throws me off. It seems to be of the same age as the gun, so why would a manufacturer do that? A stamp like that is a real booster nowadays, but back then I would rather say that it would make people suspect that it was stolen from a US depot somewhere.

BTW: I know that the "Rampant Colt" has changed quite a bit through the years, so does anybody know how to date this one?

[alvin]

Originally Posted by Olle

I would lean toward a "Chinese style" knock-off (like all those strangely marked C96 copies), but the US Property stamp throws me off. It seems to be of the same age as the gun, so why would a manufacturer do that?

I would think both Colt logo and US Property stamps were added by gun maker. Tiny gun makers do not have much "moral standard" or "code of business" or something, whatever earning more doing whatever. The target market supposed to be US collector market (or European collector market?), not Asian market though. 1920 Chinese could not care less on "US Property" stamp. No such a demand. They cared a little bit on "horse brand" though, it's a sign of quality product.

After I post these three pistols in another forum, people expressed that they have seen a lot of these in storage. There were a few nicknames, "dog brand" (due to the dog-like proof stamp on the pistol), "three-piece iron". Have not played with these in the past, where did this nick name come from,,, will know soon... probably referring to its simple structure, grip frame, slide, and barrel, .. three pieces. They knew, "even Spanish bicycle transmission chain makers were making these, the quality was not higher than our small tractor repairing facility"

So, these guns also carry some interesting history in gun making.

[Sergio Natali]

Originally Posted by alvin

No objective. Pure impulsive buying.

There was a short barrel Red 9 yesterday. It's a good one. If no one wanted it, I could do $1200. But another guy took it at $1300. So I let it go. But $1300 is still being a fair price.

Two M1930s with stock were sold a little bit high today. $2750. But they have sanded stocks. Probably winner need those stocks.

That's it for today. Tomorrow is another day. I think there are lots of bargains in this session.

Unfortunately that's exactly the name of my illness, especially when I see a reeeeeeally beautiful Luger, or a stunning 1911 winking at me from a shop window of a gunshop... simply irresistible...


Sergio