Hey all,
Here's a unique piece of Canadian history, the 100,000th High Power made at the Inglis factory in Toronto, ON!
This High Power Pistol is marked as a Browning/FN Mark I* semi-automatic, with the legend "PRESENTED TO H.J. CARMICHAEL" on the left side and "THE 100,000TH/CANADIAN AUTOMATIC PISTOL/MADE BY JOHN INGLIS CO. LIMITED,/TORONTO, CANADA." on the right.
Carmichael was an experienced machinist and an executive with General Motors Canada who was tapped to act as the Joint Director General of Munitions Procurement for the Canadian government. He was reportedly present at the meeting where a Chinese general first approached Inglis about manufacturing the High Power on contract; a significant engineering challenge, as the Inglis team didn't have any technical drawings and would need to reverse engineer the design from available handguns.
The first customers were China and the Special Operations Executive, followed by the Canadian Government; due to issues with physically getting the pistols to China (American long-haul "Hump" flights over the Himalayas were the main route, and the Americans balked at bringing in a new pistol to muddle the logistics), many Chinese components wound up in Canadian and British pistols. This example uses a Chinese-surplus frame with a slotted back strap, mated with a "Number 2 Mark I*" pattern slide with a fixed sight. The serial number "100000" is present on the front strap with an unnumbered barrel.
This piece was sold by Rock Island Auction Company on 7 Sept 2018 for a price of $6,900 USD.
Thanks,
Kevin
Here's a unique piece of Canadian history, the 100,000th High Power made at the Inglis factory in Toronto, ON!
This High Power Pistol is marked as a Browning/FN Mark I* semi-automatic, with the legend "PRESENTED TO H.J. CARMICHAEL" on the left side and "THE 100,000TH/CANADIAN AUTOMATIC PISTOL/MADE BY JOHN INGLIS CO. LIMITED,/TORONTO, CANADA." on the right.
Carmichael was an experienced machinist and an executive with General Motors Canada who was tapped to act as the Joint Director General of Munitions Procurement for the Canadian government. He was reportedly present at the meeting where a Chinese general first approached Inglis about manufacturing the High Power on contract; a significant engineering challenge, as the Inglis team didn't have any technical drawings and would need to reverse engineer the design from available handguns.
The first customers were China and the Special Operations Executive, followed by the Canadian Government; due to issues with physically getting the pistols to China (American long-haul "Hump" flights over the Himalayas were the main route, and the Americans balked at bringing in a new pistol to muddle the logistics), many Chinese components wound up in Canadian and British pistols. This example uses a Chinese-surplus frame with a slotted back strap, mated with a "Number 2 Mark I*" pattern slide with a fixed sight. The serial number "100000" is present on the front strap with an unnumbered barrel.
This piece was sold by Rock Island Auction Company on 7 Sept 2018 for a price of $6,900 USD.
Thanks,
Kevin
