Another 1908 Commercial

[spacecoast]

Several of these have been posted lately, hence the "Another".

This 9mm gun was mis-described in a recent auction as a "1920 Commercial" and I was able to pick it up for slightly more than a shooter price. The numbers match and it has the later lazy Crown/N proofs, but no hold open, grip safety or stock lug. Curious about the hold open since my 1906 American Eagle barely 4,000 guns before it has one. G&S puts the manufacture date somewhere in 1912.

I'm thinking this is original finish, but welcome your comments as to such. On the plus side, the barrel serial has nice halos and the interior areas are properly in the white, as is the end of the barrel. The end of the toggle pin isn't as clean as I would like it to be and doesn't have the dimple that we like to see (maybe it's been removed?). The front and back strap are not worn much at all but have a light sprinkling of brown oxidation under strong light. There isn't much of a toggle mark on the back of the frame. The sides of the extractor are in the white.

I was attracted to bid on this gun since I didn't previously have one of these, it lacked a stock lug, and it was similar in many respects to my 1908 Bulgarian and I thought a comparison would be interesting. The grips are not numbered but one has a + symbol. The magazine that came with it is a worn but original-looking DWM military with a serial of 3494 + if anyone's interested in a trade.