We now have a family heirloom of sorts. It's an Ithaca 1911 that my wife's grandfather carried during WWII and Korea and her father carried during Vietnam. Her father had it refinished at the factory after he returned from Vietnam so collector value is diminished, but it does have a lot of sentimental value.

What's the correct tip of grip panels for this?

He had it mounted in a display case and it currently has a set of checkered VZ's mounted on it. In the bottom of the case there are both a set of walnut double diamond checked and black plastic checkered grips.

An Ithaca M1911A1 would have originally had brown checkered plastic grips manufactured by the Keyes Fibre Company.

Keyes Fibre grips are still relatively widely available, and you should be able to score some off eBay or the classifieds section of a milsurp forum like Gunboards for ~$30.

Send me your address and ill send you some plastic ww2 aftermarket grips, look just like the ones pictured, i didn't like them but merry christmas

The plastic checkered grips in the bottom of the case look exactly like what is pictured. I'm assuming that they are the ones that originally came with the gun.

check you serial number for production date

IIRC the grips were changed during WW2 from no ring to small ring (around the grip screws)

and Colt/Rem Rand/Ithaca all used similar but sometimes slightly different, grips,

I don't have my Clawson's here at work to confirm,

I don't know squat about the grips, but that is one very nice family heirloom.
Rod

If the factory did a correct refinish I wouldnt think it would take away from its value. Many of those old girls went through gubbermint rebuild and refinish programs. At least I think they did refinish work as well as parts replacement. Number of years back, there was a Ithaca in its original brown craft paper box, at Elmira Arms up in NY State wearing a price tag of 10 thousand. That one looked like it was never issued. I had a fine condition Colt myself but that boxed Ithaca was just like it left the factory.

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
If the factory did a correct refinish I wouldnt think it would take away from its value.

If the factory in question was Colt Hartford, I doubt they applied a period correct Du-Lite or parkerized finish. 2000Z-71 . . . Is there any chance we can see some photos of your pistol? We do love us some eye candy. Thanks!

Yup, an amazing heirloom. Can't put a price on that, but I'd believe it is past "collector value".

I have a similar heirloom, and although it isn't worth "much", it's been in my family for six generations. You can't put a price on that.

And as someone asked, we need pics. Few things are as sexy as a beat up, battle worn 1911.

My question is about your grips. You said black plastic, but that they look identical to the ones pictured above. Are they brown or black? Do they have a reinforced ring around the grip screw holes? If they’re black, they probably aren’t WWII USGI. The double diamond walnut grips were WW1 issue and some WWII issue 1911’s made it to the battlefield wearing them because of necessity, and they actually may be the original grips. I had a damn near pristine set on a 1911 I got to own for a while that were made in 1918.

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:
check you serial number for production date

IIRC the grips were changed during WW2 from no ring to small ring (around the grip screws)

and Colt/Rem Rand/Ithaca all used similar but sometimes slightly different, grips,

I don't have my Clawson's here at work to confirm,

If it helps; I have an Ithaca made 1911A1, best I could find it's Class of '43 also. It does have the small ring around the grip screws. Stamp on the inside is a star, and the number 6 on one, 11 on the other as pictured in Rogue's post above. Brown plastic.

The 1943 Remington Rand that I have also has similar brown plastic grips (mine do have a ring around the grip screws). Just had the old girl out today and she still shoots just fine after 75 years!

‘43 Remington-Rand here also, with the grip screw ring reinforcements. Grips may not be original to the gun since it surely appears to be a refin, but aside from a blued pin and grips screws, it’s in WWII issue condition and all parts are correct for this era of production. Visible are the lead-dip line on the slide and the heat treat on the slide stop cutout.