What are the odds - reuniting a Transitional 1946? Webley Senior to its proper box!

[45flint]

A nice find but (and I hate saying this bit), the box is slightly early for the transitional pistol you have placed with it. Some of these post June 1939 Seniors were boxed in the pre war style but these late pistols had labels pre-printed with the price of 45/- at lower left and right of the lid label. Ironically, the price of the Senior and other Webleys had remained constant throughout the 1930s but as soon as the price was printed on the label, prices started to rise. To rectify this, Webley started to fix various labels over the pre printed prices, so finding overstickers in these places would also be 'correct' for a pistol such as yours.

A fellow collector has carried out extensive research into transitional Seniors, their presentation and the various boxes they came in, so I don't want to go into too much detail here, suffice to say this research will be published when it has been completed and I for one am eagerly awaiting it.

Best regards,

John.

I assumed when I bought the box it was a box for a prewar Senior, it was sold as such. Was thinking that after the war they still might have had some left, like they had prewar grips? But your saying that they changed to boxes with prices in shillings before the war. Would they have used these boxes for export to the US with pricing in shillings? Worse case I now have a box for that Stoeger Slant Grip Senior I have been after to complete my Senior collection!

[Josie & John]

I assumed when I bought the box it was a box for a prewar Senior, it was sold as such. Was thinking that after the war they still might have had some left, like they had prewar grips? But your saying that they changed to boxes with prices in pounds before the war. Would they have used these boxes for export to the US with pricing in pounds? Worse case I now have a box for that Stoeger Slant Grip Senior I have been after to complete my Senior collection!

Yes, your box is for a pre war slant grip Senior and would suit any pistol made between December 1935 and mid 1939. However, as you say, undoubtedly older boxes may well be encountered with earlier pistols, such was and remains the nature of serial production.

Good question around the pricing in shillings (rather than pounds) - it would interesting to hear from other U.S. based collectors that may own a boxed transitional Webley, as that would answer this question better than I can.

John

[45flint]

Yes, your box is for a pre war slant grip Senior and would suit any pistol made between December 1935 and mid 1939. However, as you say, undoubtedly older boxes may well be encountered with earlier pistols, such was and remains the nature of serial production.

Good question around the pricing in shillings (rather than pounds) - it would interesting to hear from other U.S. based collectors that may own a boxed transitional Webley, as that would answer this question better than I can.

John

I really think the best solution is to find that Slant Grip Steoger (unboxed)