1920 Commercial

[Ron Wood]

David

Your guess that this is a commercial gun made 1922-1923 has a lot of merit. My only additional thought is that it has long been maintained that all bets are off on 1920 commercials. Given that Still says that the Alphabet commercials started with the "i" suffix, "j" and "k" follow close behind. To me this might place it in the '20-'22 timeframe. The 7.65mm caliber and barrel length also might lean toward the restrictions of the earlier date. However, the â??Safe/Loadedâ?� markings would lean toward â??23. Given the preponderance of the evidence, it sounds to me like the piece is genuine, and possibly unique. I would venture that it was made up of parts on hand, as 1920â??s were, using a left-over Eagle receiver, but incorporating the emerging â??Safe/Loadedâ?� parts of the 1923 timeframe, probably, as you have stated, for the American market. This might classify it as sort of a â??transitionâ?� piece. Donâ??t have any idea what the value may be, depends on how badly someone wants it. Considering its uniqueness, and the fact that you attest to the â??haloâ?� presence of an un-reworked piece, anything close to $1000 is probably reasonable. Wouldnâ??t it have been nice if it hadnâ??t been ham-handed?!! Thanks for finding a neat topic for speculation!!!