Chromed 1943 Ithaca....

[lvanbrunt2]

[GM4spd]

Nothing wrong with the opinion of Mark,however,unless you can get some
real documentation from old Ithaca archives about it being a presentation
piece, I don't think it has any extraordinary value. Pete

[highpower]

You always buy the gun, not the story. Without some kind of documentation, all it is a WWII 1911-A1 that was chromed. Nearly all chrome is what is called triple plating. That is, first a layer of copper is applied, then a layer of nickel, and lastly a layer of chrome. Any quality shop that chromes car bumpers does it the same way. I can see no way that it could be established that it was a presentation gun at this point in time.

It could be restored and the cost for a decent restoration would likely be around $400-600 depending on who does the work. To restore it, the chrome would have to be electrolytically removed and the gun reparked.

At the prices that WWII 1911's are fetching nowadays, I would opt to not worry about whether it may be some mythical presentation piece, and have it restored properly.

My opinion is that it was chromed after the war by someone that wanted to pimp out their gun.

[beetle]

My thoughts as a collector who has seen and handled a large number of original and collectable M1911A1s:

* Every single factory presentation pistol that I have observed had the original finish used by the factory at that time. (The exception is the 1,000,000 Remington Rand which was gold plated).

* The government kept control of the serial number blocks. Presentation/demo/experimental pistols had to be serialized outside of the assigned serial number block. For example, Remington Rand used "ERRS " in front of non-government pistols. Ithaca has been known to use "XP" and others.

* Presentation/demo/experimental pistols would not have the cross canon mark behind the right grip -- as they are not owned and accepted by the government.

So the fact that this pistol has a production serial number AND the cross canon stamp makes me think that this was indeed a "regular" production pistol accepted into service. My opinion is that it is not a factory presentation piece, and therefore the chrome plating significantly detracts from collector value.

[zinfull]

The pistol looks like it was buffed. Presentation guns do not get buffed from the factory. Just a pimp 45, part of history so why change the gun.

[lvanbrunt2]

more pics

Thank you all for the feedback.

[Discogodfather]

It looks nice the way it is, why even restore?

[morrcarr67]

Thank you all for the feedback.

Ivan I know you're new around these parts but I would really listen to this man. His knowledge base is very deep in these guns.

Take a look at this thread. It will link you to many of the other threads he has written.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=769850

My thoughts as a collector who has seen and handled a large number of original and collectable M1911A1s:

* Every single factory presentation pistol that I have observed had the original finish used by the factory at that time. (The exception is the 1,000,000 Remington Rand which was gold plated).

* The government kept control of the serial number blocks. Presentation/demo/experimental pistols had to be serialized outside of the assigned serial number block. For example, Remington Rand used "ERRS " in front of non-government pistols. Ithaca has been known to use "XP" and others.

* Presentation/demo/experimental pistols would not have the cross canon mark behind the right grip -- as they are not owned and accepted by the government.

So the fact that this pistol has a production serial number AND the cross canon stamp makes me think that this was indeed a "regular" production pistol accepted into service. My opinion is that it is not a factory presentation piece, and therefore the chrome plating significantly detracts from collector value.

[Tom-ADC]

Looks better than mine, somebody installed S&W revolver sights and tried their hand at engraving on it. Shoots great doesn't care what you feed it, but I'd sure like to have it untouched.

[lvanbrunt2]

Thank you for the feed back, I've passed it along!!

[lvanbrunt2]

.......

......and for the education and links!!