A very large percentage of the 1911's shown below have had a major amount, if not most, of the lettering and proofmarks recut. Some were overbuffed or heavily pitted, and in the process of recontouring and polishing, the lettering generally suffers. In a great many cases, the 'UNITED STATES PROPERTY' marking had been removed by gouging it out with a Dremel tool. Slide serrations are virtually always re-cut, as is the checkering on the left mag release and front of the recoil plug. Lightly-struck proofmarks, like the circled inspector marks, are almost always re-cut before bluing, then 'gone over' again after bluing to give the look of being stamped after finishing. The same applies to serial numbers where appropriate.

	An early (SN < 2400) Colt 1912 Military with high-polish blue and fire-blued small parts.
Colt 1912 Military
	A Colt 1913 Military with fine brush-blue finish. Note: This gun was very badly pitted, requiring extreme amounts of metal removal and re-contouring, and all the lettering was redone.
Colt 1913 Military
	A Colt 1917 Military with medium-coarse brush-blue finish.
Colt 1917 Military
	The coarse polish and Dulite finish make these 1918/1919 Colts appear to be 'black; hense the 'Black Army' name.
Colt 1918 Black Army
	The Springfield was the only 1911 to be rust-blued, giving it a darkish matte finish (the trigger has a bit of oil on part of it). PS: Most people don't seem to know that Springfield did not make 1911A1 pistols during WWII.
Springfield 1918
	Colt 1918 RAF pistol with finer finish and different (nitre) bluing than the above 1918 Black Army
Colt 1918 RAF
	Colt 1923 Commercial done with matching .38 Super 1911A1 upper.
Colt 1923 Commercial