My new WWII German Vis Radom P35 (p) - with provenance!
Hello everyone, I wanted to share my latest find with you all!
Here is a Radom I have just picked up. It came exactly as is from the veteran's brother's home and was only discovered as his loft was been cleared in early February 2015, here in the UK!
I bought this directly from the vet's Nephew (his brother's son) who was the person who found this up there in and amongst the veteran's items all stored away inside his wartime storage tin, along with the other items as shown. I am now waiting on some more information about him from his Nephew but written below is what I know so far:
The gun was captured with it's holster in occupied France, by George W Abbott (JX377069) who was at that time the gunner aboard Motor Gun Boat number 57.
It was since stored in his brother's loft for the last 70 years until it was rediscovered only earlier this year when the house was been cleared. The items shown here include G. W Abbott's own personal storage tin that was his aboard M.G.B 57, as well as his service manuals, naval identification booklet and other miscellaneous items as can be seen in the photos. The pistol holster and the 4 boxes of WW2 German 9mm Luger rounds are the ones that were captured along with the pistol when he acquired it - the leftover rounds have since been discarded unfortunately. There is more information I hope to obtain from his nephew include further details on the items shown here and some personal photos of G.W Abbott aboard his MGB. We both feel strongly that a grouping with such provenance should be kept together, not only the physical items here but also the story and background info as well, as I'm sure you'll agree.
Now onto the Radom P35p pistol itself....! From what little research I've already done, and what others have kindly told me, this appears to be a very early German occupation made Radom Vis with the 'P35p' stamp? In fact only the 482nd one made. Radom number '204' is known to exist still today from s/n records, yet that one is not marked with the German model code for the pistol of "P35 (P)" - making this example one of the very first and earliest German Radom's surviving today!!! An unexpected but welcome bonus for sure.
The wooden grips are non-standard field made replacements, hand checkered finish, but are original to the gun from the period and pretty unique. All the numbers match including the barrel, slide and frame. It is also hard to capture accurately in the photographs(due to the high polish finish) but the pistol exhibits a "two-tone" bluing finish with the frame being a blue, and the slide being more of a plum shade - but with blued lever. There is a good amount of holster wear to the finish, a sure indicator of service use. Magazine is unmarked as far as I can see, but the holster is marked by ink stamp 'P35(p)' to the inside flap, and has a pull cord.
I'm now waiting for further information as mentioned, but in the meantime will be trying my best to do some background research on the Naval side of things with M.G.B 57, and on the veteran as well if I can.
Thanks for looking, and enjoy the pictures,
Patrick
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by lithgow
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