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Lugerlou & Crankshaft,
* While physically bearing the same features, please note, a HP S/N'd 55,555 was likely produced in late 1940 and was probably accepted by WaA613. Only about 10,000 of these WaA613 accepted, tangent-non slotted pistols were produced. They were made early in the war suggesting their survival was lessened by the additional war exposure they likely saw.
* John's WaA140 accepted tangent-no slot was relatively more plentiful being produced from approximately S/N 95k to 135k for a total of 40,000. It was likely produced at least a year, or more, after S/N 55,555.
* IMHO: smoothed machine marks, rounded edges and possible blued over pitting of the disassembly lever/elsewhere suggests this pistol was reblued once upon a time in its lifetime. A lot of these HP's saw very hard use under all kinds of "field" weather conditions. Seemingly, they rode around in wet holsters for long periods without the benefit of proper care. Yet their hi cap mag & reliability made them keepers. After capture and war's end it was a popular GI practice, spurred by an burgeoning & encouraging vet gunsmith population, to refurb a war trophy with a nice re-do.
* Not withstanding finish condition differences, the mentioned sale price of $2k would have to be factored downward to reflect this rarity factor difference alone. How much?? Afraid this is based on too many other variables like region, bore condition delta, WaA marked mags included, etc. for me to guess at a discrete answer.
* Crank: you have a desirable variation of a difficult pistol to find. Enjoy her!
* While physically bearing the same features, please note, a HP S/N'd 55,555 was likely produced in late 1940 and was probably accepted by WaA613. Only about 10,000 of these WaA613 accepted, tangent-non slotted pistols were produced. They were made early in the war suggesting their survival was lessened by the additional war exposure they likely saw.
* John's WaA140 accepted tangent-no slot was relatively more plentiful being produced from approximately S/N 95k to 135k for a total of 40,000. It was likely produced at least a year, or more, after S/N 55,555.
* IMHO: smoothed machine marks, rounded edges and possible blued over pitting of the disassembly lever/elsewhere suggests this pistol was reblued once upon a time in its lifetime. A lot of these HP's saw very hard use under all kinds of "field" weather conditions. Seemingly, they rode around in wet holsters for long periods without the benefit of proper care. Yet their hi cap mag & reliability made them keepers. After capture and war's end it was a popular GI practice, spurred by an burgeoning & encouraging vet gunsmith population, to refurb a war trophy with a nice re-do.
* Not withstanding finish condition differences, the mentioned sale price of $2k would have to be factored downward to reflect this rarity factor difference alone. How much?? Afraid this is based on too many other variables like region, bore condition delta, WaA marked mags included, etc. for me to guess at a discrete answer.
* Crank: you have a desirable variation of a difficult pistol to find. Enjoy her!
