Nickel Plated Tell3 Air Pistol.

[Abasmajor]

Bryan, Your pistol is a perfect example of a gun that begs that old chestnut "would it be better refinished or left as it is?" I know we have debated this many times on here, but what is your take on this? What is anyone else's take on this? These are some of the considerations that would apply to your gun:

• the current cosmetic appearance is not easy on the eye in a collection
• the pistol is classed as fairly rare
• it is not so old that it can't be used as a shooter
• does the current finish do the pistol justice, or is the story it tells more important?

Hello John,

I'm primarily a British spring powered air pistol collector, so wasn't all that fussed about adding German made pistols to my collection. I do however appreciate 'Firearms Quality' air pistols and the Haenal 28, Hubertus and Tell 3 were considered exceptions. I soon acquired collectable examples of both the Haenal 28 and Hubertus, but the Tell 3 was far harder to source. I would consider the Tell 3 rarer than "fairly rare" with an associated price tag for a nice one easily being in four figures.
This one turned up at an affordable price and was fully functional with what appeared to be all original parts. I wasn't too concerned about the cosmetic condition as I prefer either an honest, warn finish or a mint one to an example with an average amount of finish for the year remaining.
So, to answer your question, had the Tell 3 been British made, I would have definitely hunted down an example in better cosmetic condition. As it is, I will leave the pistol as it is and shoot it more than I would if it were in collector standard cosmetic condition.
A previous reply suggests that it would be nice to examine a nickel plated Tell 2 to determine if a copper coating was present before the plating was applied. Do you know if there was any contemporary advertising material for the Tell 2 which offers the nickel finish as a factory option?

Brian