Description
NOW OPEN TO OFFERS!
Due to the significant ongoing interest in this gun & requests to buy it, we have decided to consider offers for its sale. Where this ends up is important to us due to it’s significant Australian provenance & ties to our WW2 AIF history so we will only consider offers from genuine collectors even if the offer is not the best one.
We have found only a single example of a 1943 Remington Rand 1911 A1 in unfired condition comparable to this gun which was advertised in the US for USD $7,995 but is now sold, see below:
We have turned down offers south of $10k so use this as a guide.
Saying that, if you’re interested, read on to find out about this gun & how we bought it from the son of Australian Army officer Capt. Frank Thomas, who was the Adjutant to General Morshead, famous for leading the Australian defenders at Tobruk who defied the Afrika Korps & handed the Wehrmacht their first defeat of the war.
What we have here is a mint & unfired example of the legendary Colt 1911A1 .45 which has an interesting Aussie backstory.
During the Pacific campaign under Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Morshead, his Adjutant & the 7th Division were involved in much of the mopping up of the Japanese forces including at Balik Papen.
Whilst known for having high expectations of his Adjutants & being known as ‘Ming the Merciless’ or just ‘Ming’ by his troops, Capt. Frank Thomas became good friends with Gen. Morshead who he served with from 1943-1945.
The 7th Division was in action in the Pacific until the end of the war & at the cessation of the war & some time prior to being discharged in 1946, Capt. Thomas was presented this pistol although we don’t know from who exactly or under what circumstances.
The family understand this was a gift from either Gen. Morshead or a US Officer Capt. Thomas served with. It is even possible this was presented to Capt. Thomas by Gen. Douglas MacArthur himself as the Thomas family had heard from him stories of meeting MacArthur on numerous occasions & it is known Moorshead was held in high esteem by MacArthur. Just saying, this could be true.
For the past 75 odd years this has been wrapped in grease paper (2 x mags still are) inside the original box until Capt. Thomas’s son found this after his father passed away & bought it into the shop. We have cleaned it up enough to get the stains from the grease paper mostly off so anything you see is just that & will come off completely once cleaned properly.
Now that we have decided to consider offers, if this is something you just must have, make contact.
This is your one & only chance to be the one who owns this rare ‘barn find’ & own not only the best WW2 1911 A1 pistol in the country but one which has real Australian military provenance!
