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Winning Bid US $7875 First bid $5000 Quantity 1 # of bids 4 Time left Auction has ended   Started 2024-04-30 00:00:00 Ended 2024-05-31 23:11:01

EXCEEDINGLY RARE, Ithaca, M 1911 A1 U.S Army, CAL: 45, MFG: 1943, SN: NONE marked ''EXP 2'', Semi Auto Pistol, 5'' barrel.

HISTORY: This is a pistol in which only a single family knows to exist. The Smith family has deep seeded roots in the history of the Ithaca Gun Co. The story of the Ithaca Gun Company starts with a man named Baker. William Henry Baker formed the W.H. Baker company along with Lewis Smith. Together they began making firearms in 1863 based on Bakers designs. Not long after, Lewis's sons, Lyman Cornelius Smith & Leroy Smith began working alongside their father, forming W.H. Baker & Co. After a short production run in Central NYC, Leroy & Baker set eyes on a new location in Ithaca, NY in 1881. Lyman Cornelius Smith went on to create the L.C. Smith Shotgun Company of Syracuse. By 1886, Leroy Smith & his brother-in-law, George Livermore, bought out the Bakers & the Ithaca Gun Company was finally established. The Ithaca Gun Co. was run by Smith & Livermore until Smith's passing in 1902. Smith's son, Louis ''Lou'' P. Smith came to work at Ithaca in 1888 when he was 18 years old. He became a successful salesman of its shotguns & held the offices of vice president, sales & advertising manager. Eventually he was elected President, succeeding George Livermore, who became Chairman of the Board. Livermore passed in 1950 & the Smith family bought out the Livermore's to gain sole ownership of Ithaca Gun Co. Just before the change of ownership in the company, Ithaca Gun Co. won the WWII contract for 1911's & was appointed by the U.S Army to produce 400,000 1911A1 pistols between 1943-45. Before production started, President Louis P. Smith presented a pistol to each of his active duty sons, Capt. Charles L. Smith (later gained military rank to Major & Colonel) & Capt. Sheldon M. Smith. Charles & Sheldon were both pilots in WWII. They could not give the guns serial numbers due to controls of the U.S Army. Louis had the idea of getting each pistol hand engraved each of his sons' current rank & name. At that point, the only two ''Experimental '' models to exist were gifted to his sons ''Ithaca Exp # 1'' to Sheldon & ''Ithaca Exp #2'' to Charles. Labeling the guns as such avoided very strict controls of the U.S Army & allowed the guns to be classified as a presentation model, outside of the military SN block. After WWII, both Charles & Sheldon came to work at Ithaca. Sheldon took over, becoming President, while Charles became the VP of Operations. The Smith family would go onto own & run the Ithaca Gun Co. until it sold in 1967 to a Colorado based company, Jerry Baldritch & Assoc. This brings us to present day, where the pistol has remained in family's possession for decades. Before Charles passed, he gifted his prized experimental Ithaca 1911A1 to his son Sheldon L. Smith, a Vietnam Veteran. This pistol comes to us today from Sheldon, who has graciously shared the history of his family, the Ithaca Gun Co. & the history of this pistol which is known to exist by only his family. Sheldon has included a signed letter authenticating the pistol & confirming a brief history of this family heirloom.

CONDITION: The checkered plastic grips are mint. The military style metal finish rates 99%+, having been professionally restored, according to Sheldon. Bore is excellent. Upgraded Wilson Combat sights. Comes with an extra magazine & the original front/rear sight, which can be put back on if desired. The other experimental pistol in existence that was gifted to Sheldon (Exp #1) was sold appx two decades ago for 10K. This pistol is truly one of a kind & is absolutely worthy of being added to the highest WWII, 1911 or Ithaca collection.* FFL or C&R Req. - Value: 10000 to 20000

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Price

EXCEEDINGLY RARE, Ithaca, M 1911 A1 U.S Army, CAL: 45, MFG: 1943... Item # 4537 This auction is over. No new bids can be placed. Price: US $7875

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