1911a1 box & kraft paper

[NAM67-68]

I purchased this pistol and box as shown 10 or so yrs. ago from an elderly gentleman. Is this box and paper real? The pistol is a 1943 Colt US ARMY. I am not planning on selling it and I would like to know what to have it insured for. Does anyone know of a reputable dealer who knows 1911A1's in the Terre Haute, Indiana area? Thank you in advance. PJ

Information

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[NAM67-68]

Inside of box.

[NAM67-68]

This is my 1943 1911A1 that came in the box.

[Johnny Peppers]

Your photos are not much larger than the thumbnails, but to answer your question, the box is not original. The boxes have been faked for many years.

The pistols were not packed in Kraft paper. The pistols were submerged in a protective oil, allowed to drain for several minutes, and tightly wrapped in a green oil-proof paper.

This is an example of a fake Colt box. I bought the pistol and box a number of years ago before much was known about the boxes. Beautiful Colt pistol, and at least the box makes a good storage box.

When you think about the machine printed serial numbers, how would this have been done? The pistols were not being manufactured in numerical serial number order, so how would they have managed to get the pistol in the correctly numbered box?

[CJS57]

I am NOT saying the PO's box is correct! I am NOT saying the machine stamped numbers are correct either! But years ago I had a little mechanical ink hand stamp with rotary dial numbers on it. You could just spin each dial wheel and hand stamp any long number in one shot just as neat as can be.

[Johnny Peppers]

It is much easier for the faker to number the box as he can do them as the order comes in. He can even rearrange the information on the box lid to facilitate a fake number. No matter how easy it would be, there simply was no need for it.

[mpd1978]

Here is a thread that shows a real Colt WW2 box

$900 for a COLT WW2 M1911A1 shipping box!

[Scott Gahimer]

Does anyone know of a reputable dealer who knows 1911A1's in the Terre Haute, Indiana area?...

I am not a reputable dealer. I'm not a dealer at all. I'm only a collector, but I have have seen a few 1911A1 pistols in my time. I'm about 1-1/2 hrs. east of Terre Haute.

[Johnny Peppers]

Maybe the one I showed is a real box also, and I have just been wrong all these years saying it wasn't right. Probably used a No.2 Ticonderoga to mark the serial number before they had mechanical ink stamps.