Colt 1903 .32 hammerless

http://www.coltautos.com/1903ph.htm

You might enjoy the link above.

Steve Mace

Those guns usually run from $300-$800 with a rare one like new in the box (LNIB) going for $1000 or so.

But the pictured gun has been heavily polished and then plated (probably nickel, possibly chrome). All the corners have been rounded, the holes "dished", and the markings blurred. That has reduced the value well below similar guns with a worn but original finish.

In that condition, I doubt it would be worth even the $300 figure. It is a fancy looking shooter with zero collector or investment value.

Jim

The roll marks get a little “fuzzy” when the sharp edges are polished. You can compare yours to my original. It has a lot of “character” because it was one that my grandfather carried for many years but that is also what makes it so valuable to me.

That's an interesting looking 1903. Here is my 1920 1903 Hammerless.

Based on the pictures, I agree with Jim Keenan. "Dished" in this case means the gun was buffed and the hole receiving the through pin for the safety appears to have been rounded during the process. This may be an artifact of somewhat blurry pictures, but the super shiny plating isn't original. Compare the sharp edges of the guns in the above pictures to yours. Especially evident rounding behind and below the trigger guard and in front of the grips. Which are very nice grips, but I'm guessing they are not factory and may not be ivory. If original to the gun and of similar vintage, the grips should show some age discoloration.

When a buffing wheel is applied to steel which has an incised cut (like a stamped-in marking or a drilled hole), the abrasive buffing compound drags tiny bits of metal out of the edges of the cut, rounding them off. This creates what is called a "dishing effect" on screw and pin holes (the screws and pins having been removed prior to buffing), making them look sunken in, like looking at a table dish, hence the term.

The same effect blurs markings, and rounds sharp corners. Some folks who carry pistols even like the rounded effect, and pay good money to have corner rounding done deliberately in a process called "melting" which gives the appearance of a gun made of ice and allowed to melt.

Factories, incidentally, try to avoid or at least minimize "dishing" and "blurring" by using hard buffing wheels shaped to the part to keep the surface even to the greatest extent possible. You can see the flat surfaces and sharp edges on the other guns shown, compared to the rounded edges and uneven surfaces on the OP's gun.

Jim