Type I “Pre-Alpha” VIS35

I had an opportunity to grab a desirable "Pre-Alpha" Type I early German Occupation production VIS35 at a very attractive price. These are denoted by a lack of a letter prefix in the serial number, elegant finger cutouts in the trigger area, stock slot cutout, fine fit/finish and bluing, and the absence of a lanyard loop. Of course all serial numbers match, and you do not see the "cut corners" and rough finish of the later German Occupation production examples.

As you can see in the photos, the slide appears to have a different finish than the frame. It is my understanding that this is attributed to the Germans messing with the bluing solution in early production. I’ve seen some pre-Alphas in this two-tone condition and others with plum/purple slides.

Something about two tone pistols… just like them.

Thanks for sharing.

Good looking VIS…. Congrats

Congratulations!
Interesting variation.
Some had blued barrels.

Kruk: The no-letter-bloc pistols are very tough to find. This bloc also held the majority of KM pistols as well. Back in the day I found and purchased #204 (at the same shop and counter where years later acquired the Polish Wz98a). The pistol was matched and about 70% finish. Frame/slide were a thin, copper-red color like observed of some P.38s. All secondary components were deep Polish rust blue. No lanyard loop. White barrel. If you have Robert Berger's RADOM pistol booklet, most of those pictured were of my collection. There is a interesting example #0567 (not mine) with blank slide and deeply blued pictured. Evidence suggests a first run of pistols was possibly made with zero preceding the serial number (with a couple above 10,000). Then standard production began of no-letter bloc pistols. I think #204 had no zero prefix, but sadly don't have any remaining documentation from that time...