Browing Pearl Handle - What is it

[codydog]

I am very curious what this is? What is it worth? I can not help believing there is either a great story about these guns, or they are just junk (but doubt my father would have knowingly bought junk).

I am not sure if the symbols on the bolt will come in the picture, but it looks like a fish, upside down A, something else I can not identify. The next line has "CAL 6m/m 35". I am getting this from the photo as it is very small on the gun.

Appreciate your help and will look anxiously for your replies.

[kingcuke]

It's certainly not junk, it's a Belgian made "Baby Browning" .25 ACP. Someone will be along to tell you the approximate worth. Depending on whether the engraving job can be traced either to Browning or a "known" engraver the pistol could be quite valuable.

[RJay]

And those are real honest to goodness pearl grips

[oscarmayer]

sorry but it's highly unlikely those are true pearl grips, unless they were added after being bought. the original baby browning 25 acp came a few different ways. in a clam shell hard case velvet lined like a jewerly box or in a set along with a high power. or in a soft case along with a draw string pouch. browning called this the renaissance edition. i see by your picture you have the soft sided zippered gun rug. and the condition seems very good +++ the value would be around 2100.00 to 2700.00 as shown ...

[oscarmayer]

if they are truely pearl grips add another 300 to the value one sure way to tell . remove one grip on the back side of the grip you can test to see if it's really pearl . heat up the tip of a safety pin once the tip is good and hot touch it to the back side of the grip. if it smokes and scores the grip it's not pearl.The Baby Browning made its reputation during WWII when it became the pistol of choice of the French Resistance MovementFrench ResistanceThe French Résistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...hence the name of this edition....

[dtrouble21]

Morning
New to this site and need help to put pictures of my pistol on here to find out what it is and what its value is. Any help is appreciated. Its a 1863 Enfield pistol
Thanks

[3/2 STA SS]

Looks like a beauty of a baby browning. I had one years ago(blued) and was no where near like this example.

[Alpo]

Originally Posted by dtrouble21

Morning
New to this site and need help to put pictures of my pistol on here to find out what it is and what its value is. Any help is appreciated. Its a 1863 Enfield pistol
Thanks

First, read the sticky at the top of this forum.

Second, start a new thread. You won't get a whole lot of answers about your Enfield in this Baby Browning thread.

Third, pictures, PICTURES, PICTURES. Up at the top of the message block you'll see a smiley face. Next to the smiley face is a paper clip. Click on the paper clip. That opens a box that will allow you to upload pictures from your computer.

[Jim K]

Sorry, "renaissance" and "resistance" are different words and different meanings. FN called that edition the "renaissance" (rebirth) both because it represented the "rebirth" of FN after the war and occupation and because its engraving recalled the artwork of the Renaissance of the 14th to the 17th centuries.

Jim

[johnlives4christ]

wow

[Bill DeShivs]

Factory engraved, "Renaissance" model Browning. The grips are plastic. Browning called the material "Nacrolac." The grips on the pistol shown don't look like factory original grips, but they may be factory replacements. The pistol is all steel, and plated with satin nickel. Value is in the $1500 range.

[wonderwhippet]

Right on, Bill. Your analysis is correct in every detail.

[Jim K]

Just FWIW, from about 1954 to 1968, FN offered a cased Renaissance set, fully engraved, with "pearl" grips. The set consisted of a BHP, a Baby Browning, and a Model 1910 in .380 caliber. The latter is the rarest of the three. When GCA '68 banned the importation of the Baby Browning and the Model 1910, the Renaissance set was discontinued, although Renaissance BHPs continued to be imported until 1978. The full set can bring in the neighborhood of $8500-9000; the .380 alone runs some $2500.

None of those guns was ever imported before WWII, because Colt and FN had an agreement not to invade each other's territory, and North and South America "belonged" to Colt. Thousands of BHPs and Model 1910/1922's were brought back by GIs as war souvenirs, mainly taken from the Germans, but the agreement was not discontinued until c. 1954 when Colt was no longer making the Model 1903 hammerless or the Model 1908 Vest Pocket pistol.

Jim