Colt 1908 Vest Pocket .25 ACP serial number 357140 - pistol is factory gold plated and has factory mother of pearl grips with gold plated flush medallions.  The gold plating was rather delicate and is very thin on this example as gold finish remains mostly in protected areas.

Factory letter confirms these features and indicates that this gun was sold to Hall Hardware Company (address unavailable) and was shipped to Shapleigh Hardware Company, St. Louis, Missouri on October 22, 1925.  It was processed on Colt Factory Order number 10516/1.

HISTORY OF THE HALL HARDWARE COMPANY

The Northwestern Hardware Company was organized on February 8, 1913 in Minneapolis by and for retail hardware dealers of the Northwestern states, to buy and sell hardware and related products wholesale to retail hardware and general store merchants.

The directors of the Northwestern Hardware Company met with several prominent Minnesota hardware men on May 15, 1913, and agreed to organize a wholesale hardware company. On June 9, 1913 it was decided to incorporate the company under the name of Hall Hardware Company, and it was agreed that all subscriptions of hardware dealers taken under the name of the Northwestern Hardware Company would be received into the Hall Hardware Company. Incorporators included George E. Hall, of Fargo, North Dakota, and G. H. Reeves and Fred N. Furber, both of Minneapolis. Subscriptions for the capital stock of the corporation were invited from persons engaged in the retail hardware business in the Northwest. By 1933 Hall Hardware supplied 450 retail hardware stores in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana. In 1949 the name of the firm was changed to Our Own Hardware Company.

The Hall Building Company was incorporated in 1918 as a holding company to finance, construct, and operate a building in Minneapolis under lease to the Hall Hardware Company. Securities were offered for sale to members of the Hall Hardware Company, their clerks, relatives, and a few other individuals. The directors of the Hall Building Company were the same as those of the Hall Hardware Company.

Source: http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00440.xml

Colt 1908 Vest Pocket .25 ACP serial number 357140 - gold present inside the trigger area.

Colt 1908 Vest Pocket .25 ACP serial number 357140 - right side

Colt 1908 Vest Pocket .25 ACP serial number 357140 - gold plating on frame above grip safety.