Alvin,

Outstanding collection of Brooms!!!
It is impossible not to love them, as their condition is great!
I also enjoyed the FN1900. I will check Vanderlinden's book "FN Browning Pistols, Side-Arms that Shaped World History " and see if we can narrow the date a little further.

Congratulations,
Douglas

Thanks, Doug. You know I collect these Mausers. Got another antique Large Ring recently..... for unknown reason, I love those Large Rings. Waiting its arriving, hopefully it's a very good one. Will post pictures if it's indeed good.

Alvisn,

I still think that, for unknown reasons, Brooms are underestimated as collectable guns. I mean, its full potential is as big as the Lugers but C96 collecting is still missing something.

And your collection should be something marvellous, as you focus only on pristine examples.

Greetings,

Douglas.

The antique LRH arrives. It looks great, matches GB description: all matching. The bore is good as well.

Doug -- As you can see, this is not pristine. It's a taste. For some reason, postwar guns have many mint instances, but it's not easy to see a pre-1899 one in pristine shape.... ~20 years difference in age..... considering the age of these guns, 20 years delta is not big. So why postwar variations have so many nice samples....

I would bet some people realized C96 could be a collectible in 1920s, so they reserved their newly acquired postwar guns.

Alvin,

I don't see too much wear on this Large Hammer.
Only some "frosting" in the side rails and front sight.
The grips are also in nice condition as far as I can see.
I would be glad to have it in my collection.

Douglas.

I guess this explains why Alvin didn't buy that miniature Borchardt... ;)

Interesting...Ian Hogg & John Weeks' "Pistols Of the World" Revised Edition [1982] says that FN "continued production of the Model 1900 until some time in 1912"...

Alvin - I can scan those two pages, if you wish...

The book "System Mauser" recorded 19 Transitional LRHs on page 56. The lower one was 12325, recorded in that book. The upper one 12496 is not in the book, but "System Mauser" recorded 12490 and 12494, both are very close to the upper one (12496).

12496 lost some blue on left side of the barrel. Otherwise, the general appearance is a little better than 12325.

The story of 12496 was brought back from WWI must be wrong.... considering 12490, 12494, and 12496 were all in the U.S. It supposed to be a commercial gun, probably sold to British, later resold into the states.

Earth to Alvin..over..

Where you at?? I, for one, really miss your input here. Stay in touch please. You did much better when you were in..maybe Iceland or was it Namibia
pitsword

According to the 2008 edition of Anthony Vanderlinden book "FN Browning Pistols, Side-Arms that Shaped World History", Model 1900 was made until 1914. However FN shifted the marketing to the newer "Model 1910" from 1912 on, what led the wrong conclusion that the production of 1900s ended that year.

The production of Model 1900 ended because of the German invasion at the early weeks of WWI. After the war its production was not restarted, and Model 1910 took its place.

Douglas.

Sure. I am focusing on another subject in the past half a year, so I can only visit gun sites occasionally.

Thanks for checking in. Look forward to seeing you back with us soon. Best to you.
Vince:rockon: