1251 ELUSIVE & SELDOM ENCOUNTERED FABRIQUE NATIONALE

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[?]Live Online Auction Starts In 2025 May 08 @ 10:00 (UTC-04:00 : AST/EDT)
Category Firearms & Military
Auction Currency USD
Start Price 500.00 USD
Estimated at 1,000.00 - 1,500.00 USD
DUTCH CONTRACT HIGH POWER "M.46" SEMI-AUTOMATIC PISTOL. Cal. 9mm Luger. S# 26171. Bbl. 4 5/8". High Power (Dutch designation: "M.46") semi-automatic pistol mfg. by Fabrique Nationale under contract for the Dutch military after 1948. The left side of the slide is marked "FABRIQUE NATIONALE D'ARMES DE GUERRE/ HERSTAL BELGIQUE/ BROWNING'S PATENT DEPOSE", with a Crown/J (Queen Juliana) crest marked on the top, just forward of the rear sight. Left side of the frame, slide, and right side of the bbl. exhibit Belgian commercial proofs. Metal components exhibit a reapplied blue finish overall, save for on bbl., which is polished in-the-white. Frame is mounted with 2-piece checkered black synthetic grips. Fixed half-moon blade front sight, with dovetailed V-notch rear sight. Left side of the frame is fitted with a lanyard ring. Frame locking lug cam is a contemporary replacement, which was welded into place prior to refinishing. Matching numbers are present on the frame and slide. Bbl. is unnumbered. MAGS: 1 blued 13-rd., stamped with the S# "02037" on the bottom of the floorplate. UNATTACHED ACCESSORIES: a page of notes from Charles Wagner, noting history of this variation, and highlighting "Very, very few of this contract have been released by the government of the Netherlands. Pistol is also accompanied by an invoice from William O. Drollinger (William O. Drollinger is described as a noted American High Power Collector in Blake Stevens' book, "The Browning High Power Automatic PIstol") dated October 9th of 2,000, which includes this pistol on the inventory list. CONDITION: very good, with metal components retaining the majority of their reapplied blue finish, exhibiting some spots of light edge wear, with some scattered areas that exhibit varying degrees of pitting beneath the bluing. Frame exhibits heat related discoloration around the locking cam lug slot, as well as some porous spots from welding. Fair bore, exhibiting consistent mild pitting and scattered spots of dark pitting, while retaining strong rifling throughout. Grips are very good overall, with some light superficial handling marks. With the Dutch government opting to destroy the majority of these pistols, this makes for an exceedingly scarce example of a Dutch M.46 High Power pistol, that is seldom encountered even in advanced High Power collections. PROVENANCE: the Estate Collection of Charles Wagner. (25-268/MLW). CURIO. $1,000-1,500.