SOLD - Very Rare Colt Detective Special - OSS Issued

Description

10/30/24 - This is a very rare and highly desirable Colt Detective Special revolver that was issued to the Office of Strategic Services in 1944! One of only 1,004 Colt Detective Specials that were issued to the O.S.S. during World War II. Accompanied by verification from the Colt Archives, this example is in excellent condition with 95-96% of its original blue remaining. Mainly just high point wear on the butt and around the muzzle, and minor turn line on the cylinder. Excellent bore and grips. Interestingly, one grip panel is marked 'RA-P' on the bottom, generally indicative of work by Raritan Arsenal, though this gun has not been re-worked or refinished.

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The Office of Strategic Services was an intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branches of the United States Armed Forces. The OSS was dissolved a month after the end of the war. Intelligence tasks were shortly later resumed and carried over by its successors, the Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), and the Central Intelligence Group (CIG), the intermediary precursor to the independent Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Firearms associated with the O.S.S. have become especially popular in the last five years.