What specifically would you like to know? There are a number of members on this forum with extensive knowledge of the Radom P.35

 

Not sure if my last reply was sent properly. Regarding; ”Any information about this particular piece. It also has the black grips, which I understand, is not the case with the typical, two lever
models. Im told they had brown wooden grips. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks

 

The P-35 Radom is a well built and prized pistol. They only came in a blue finish, so yours was plated sometime after the war. That was not uncommon on many Radom collectors will have at least one in their collection. It does however hurt the value.
Some pictures would help and YouTube has several informative videos on your pistol. Congratulations.

 

how do you know it was plated?

 

I don’t. It’s looks nickel, chrome, maybe . I doubt there was anything done to it after the war, my uncle took it off a tanker. It came home in his duffel bag. My uncle was definitely not the type to spend money on anything like that. I should have asked him more about it, obviously.

 

Basically, the VIS35 pistol (its official designation) was a Polish designed pistol, adopted in 1935. It was chambered for the 9 mm Luger cartridge and it featured a decocking lever - the first military pistol to have this device. The pistol was produced in the Government Arsenal located in Radom - hence the name.
Around 50 thousand had been made when the WWII started and Poland fell to the Germans.

The Germans captured the arsenal plant intact and quickly realized the gun potential. They restarted the production and kept it running until the end of the war, eventually moving the production to Steyr, Austria. Quality control drastically decreased during the war, which included finish change to phosphate and the supression of the take down lever. Total production during the war was around 320 thousand guns.

Hope it helps you.
Greetings
Douglas.

 

I’ll try to figure out how to include photos. Thanks for your input.

 

Not to insinuate anything negative, but to my knowledge the P.35 has only two types of factory finish applied. Primarily blued and then phosphated towards wars end.

 

I get it, thanks. I can’t figure an explanation. Im sure my uncle brought this home from the war. I’m also sure that he would never spend a dime to have it plated. Guess, I’ll give up trying to find any good explanation, of why/how it was altered. Thanks

 

It was extremely common for GIs to have captured firearms nickel plated in Europe before returning home after the war. I do not know the actual going rate but I’ve heard a couple of packs of cigarettes could often get it done. Shops capable of doing this were widely located, numerous and made it a point to advertise this service to the GIs. I also have been told that shops in France and Belgium were doing this for the GI as early as later 1944…..a year before most any WWII GI actually came back. On the other hand it was a big “no-no” for any German soldier to have his issue handgun or issue anything nickel plated. It is theatrically possible for a German officer to have a private purchase handgun plated but not at all fashionable and there is next to zero credible evidence this was done…..and a type 2 VIS would not be a private purchase gun.
Nickel plated German pistols and shoulder holsters seem to have always been captured that way but I’ve never seen either that I believe was….not that it matters to anyone but me. I could add plexiglass grips to this. I will say that I think that there is a place for all of these GI souvenir modified items and they are starting to pick up some interest to some collectors. Lots of civil war items were plated and or gold “painted” as well as artist painted (canteens) for GAR hall displays, WWI gave us trench art and so it goes.