*EXTREMELY RARE SINGER MODEL 1911A1 MANAGEMENT PRESENTATION SEMI-AUTOMATIC PISTOL.

Cal. 45 ACP. This pistol is one of only a very few unnumbered toolroom samples produced at the Singer Sewing Machine Company, Elizabeth Works, Elizabeth, NJ, which were later given to Senior Management employees. This particular piece was given to Shirley James Murphy upon his departure from the Elizabeth Works in 1965 when he was transferred to take over management of Singer’s largest factory in Clydebank, Scotland. Mr. Murphy was born in May 1919 and graduated from Purdue University in 1942 during which time he was enrolled in the ROTC program and entered active duty in May 1942 with the 401st Field Artillery Batallion serving through the remainder of the war until Feb. 1946 when he was discharged. He remained in the active reserves until 1957 reaching the rank of Major. He actually started to work for Singer as a high school student in the 1930s and returned to Singer in 1946 after his active duty military service. He worked at various Singer operations throughout the northeast U.S., rising to the position of Assistant Vice-President, then on to Scotland where he remained for four years and then was transferred to Ealing, London, England as Senior Vice-President of Manufacturing for Europe. He retired in 1974 after 30 years with Singer. Accompanied by a signed notarized letter from Kathryn A. Yeomans, Mr. Murphy’s daughter, wherein she states that this pistol was given to her father when he was Vice-President & General Manager of the Singer Factory in Elizabethport, NJ. She states that at that time he was in charge of manufacturing for the U.S. factories including a furniture factory in Hendersonville, NC and the Craftsman Tool Factory in Pickens, SC. She states that “The tag marked #5 was on the gun.” Also accompanied by newspaper articles which include photographs of Mr. Murphy, detailing his promotions. Additionally accompanied by a hard bound book Singer in World War II 1939-1945. This book has the notation inside the front cover “Shirley J. Murphy / Gen. Mgr. E’Port Factory”. The book is bound in black leather with gold embossed cover having the Singer logo in the center along with the title on the front. Inside is 233 pages detailing all of the manufacturing at Singer’s various plants during World War II. Page 5 details the production of the 1911A1 pistols. In April 1940 “an educational contract” was placed with the Elizabethport factory which called for the preparation of one complete set of tools, fixtures & gauges and the manufacture of 500 complete pistols, plus spare parts. The book states that the purpose of this contract was primarily to provide tools which would be available for further larger production orders and to familiarize the Elizabethport personnel with pistol manufacture. When the 500 pistols of the educational contract were completed the Ordnance Dept. ordered the Elizabethport factory to turn the tooling materials and production information over to another company for production. This pistol has all blue finish with 5″ bbl, standard Gov’t Model fixed sights with the slide marked “S. MFG. CO. / ELIZABETH, N.J., U.S.A.” and without serial numbers or military acceptance proofs. Mounted with orig Singer checkered brown composition grips without donuts and without reinforcements inside. Accompanied by its orig Singer all blue magazine. Pistol has checkered slide stop, thumb safety, hammer spur, recoil spring keeper, magazine release and arched main spring housing with lanyard loop. Also accompanying is a small string tag with the pencil notation “#5”. Singer 1911A1 pistols, although not the most rare, certainly are the most desirable of all the Gov’t Model pistols produced. The 500 pistols produced by Singer were generally issued to the Army Air Corps, probably along with all the spare parts. Today one can occasionally encounter a “SINGER” marked slide on another maker’s frame or a Singer frame with other maker’s parts. Rarely does one ever encounter a complete, orig, new & unfired Singer pistol pistol. CONDITION: New & unfired, retaining virtually all of its crisp, bright, orig finish with temper line on front end of slide; left side of frame has some light discoloration above the trigger guard and a spot on the slide in the same area with another small spot on front strap, otherwise the finish is virtually intact; the hammer face & breech face show no evidence of ever having been fired; magazine is equally new as are the grips. Crisp mechanics, brilliant shiny bore. 4-54742 (50,000-100,000) – Lot 2143

Click here to view provenance

Auction: Firearms - March 2015

Please Note: All prices include the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, which is paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price. The prices noted here after the auction are considered unofficial and do not become official until after the 46th day.

Image	Lot	Price	Description
	2143	$51,750.00	EXTREMELY RARE SINGER MODEL 1911A1 MANAGEMENT PRESENTATION SEMI-AUTOMATIC PISTOL. Cal. 45 ACP. This pistol is one of only a very few unnumbered toolroom samples produced at the Singer Sewing Machine Company, Elizabeth Works, Elizabeth, NJ, which were later given to Senior Management employees. This particular piece was given to Shirley James Murphy upon his departure from the Elizabeth Works in 1965 when he was transferred to take over management of Singer’s largest factory in Clydebank, Scotland. Mr. Murphy was born in May 1919 and graduated from Purdue University in 1942 during which time he was enrolled in the ROTC program and entered active duty in May 1942 with the 401st Field Artillery Batallion serving through the remainder of the war until Feb. 1946 when he was discharged. He remained in the active reserves until 1957 reaching the rank of Major. He actually started to work for Singer as a high school student in the 1930s and returned to Singer in 1946 after his active duty military service. He worked at various Singer operations throughout the northeast U.S., rising to the position of Assistant Vice-President, then on to Scotland where he remained for four years and then was transferred to Ealing, London, England as Senior Vice-President of Manufacturing for Europe. He retired in 1974 after 30 years with Singer. Accompanied by a signed notarized letter from Kathryn A. Yeomans, Mr. Murphy’s daughter, wherein she states that this pistol was given to her father when he was Vice-President & General Manager of the Singer Factory in Elizabethport, NJ. She states that at that time he was in charge of manufacturing for the U.S. factories including a furniture factory in Hendersonville, NC and the Craftsman Tool Factory in Pickens, SC. She states that “The tag marked #5 was on the gun.” Also accompanied by newspaper articles which include photographs of Mr. Murphy, detailing his promotions. Additionally accompanied by a hard bound book Singer in World War II 1939-1945. This book has the notation inside the front cover “Shirley J. Murphy / Gen. Mgr. E’Port Factory”. The book is bound in black leather with gold embossed cover having the Singer logo in the center along with the title on the front. Inside is 233 pages detailing all of the manufacturing at Singer’s various plants during World War II. Page 5 details the production of the 1911A1 pistols. In April 1940 “an educational contract” was placed with the Elizabethport factory which called for the preparation of one complete set of tools, fixtures & gauges and the manufacture of 500 complete pistols, plus spare parts. The book states that the purpose of this contract was primarily to provide tools which would be available for further larger production orders and to familiarize the Elizabethport personnel with pistol manufacture. When the 500 pistols of the educational contract were completed the Ordnance Dept. ordered the Elizabethport factory to turn the tooling materials and production information over to another company for production. This pistol has all blue finish with 5″ bbl, standard Gov’t Model fixed sights with the slide marked “S. MFG. CO. / ELIZABETH, N.J., U.S.A.” and without serial numbers or military acceptance proofs. Mounted with orig Singer checkered brown composition grips without donuts and without reinforcements inside. Accompanied by its orig Singer all blue magazine. Pistol has checkered slide stop, thumb safety, hammer spur, recoil spring keeper, magazine release and arched main spring housing with lanyard loop. Also accompanying is a small string tag with the pencil notation “#5”. Singer 1911A1 pistols, although not the most rare, certainly are the most desirable of all the Gov’t Model pistols produced. The 500 pistols produced by Singer were generally issued to the Army Air Corps, probably along with all the spare parts. Today one can occasionally encounter a “SINGER” marked slide on another maker’s frame or a Singer frame with other maker’s parts. Rarely does one ever encounter a complete, orig, new & unfired Singer pistol pistol. CONDITION: New & unfired, retaining virtually all of its crisp, bright, orig finish with temper line on front end of slide; left side of frame has some light discoloration above the trigger guard and a spot on the slide in the same area with another small spot on front strap, otherwise the finish is virtually intact; the hammer face & breech face show no evidence of ever having been fired; magazine is equally new as are the grips. Crisp mechanics, brilliant shiny bore. 4-54742 (50,000-100,000) – Lot 2143 Click here to view provenance Auction: Firearms - March 2015 Please Note:* All prices include the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, which is paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price. The prices noted here after the auction are considered unofficial and do not become official until after the 46th day.

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*EXTREMELY RARE SINGER MODEL 1911A1 MANAGEMENT PRESENTATION SEMI-AUTOMATIC PISTOL.