Here’s another example of the inter-war Chinese pistol trade – this one from Roger Papke of Handfuls Of History. It’s interesting to note that this pistol is virtually identical in design to the one recently sold at Rock Island, but has much different markings.
The obvious question is, what was the relationship between the builders of this pistol and the builders of the other one? The mechanical designs are far too similar to be coincidence, but the markings don’t really have much in common. Were then manufactured in the same facility but given over to different people for marking embellishment? Were they made by the same person but at a significant time interval? Was one perhaps just a copy of the other?
I think the image links need some attention there, Ian 🙂