More on the model nine-thirty-five. (Not 1935.)
Johnwill--
Easter break, 1964--Helped my girlfriend's mom choose a home defense gun at a pawn shop in New Mexico. She rejected several more suitable handguns and chose the engraved .25 Beretta, because it was so "cute." She fired two magazines in practice and later killed a small rattlesnake on the patio with the little gun. I married girl friend. When mom moved to Dallas and went into assisted living, wife and I shared custody of the Beretta. She kept it, of course, when we parted ways, after 16 years.
I've probably owned four other examples of this type pistol over the years, both in steel and alloy frame versions. It was the original James Bond sidearm from the Ian Fleming book, Casino Royale-- The eight-shot model with grip safety. Fairly large for a .25 but very flat and all of mine were quite accurate.
The Beretta was marked "1954" on left rear of frame, in the area covered by the stock of your 1935. This was definitely a factory job. It appeared to have been done with some sort of pantograph engraving instrument. I'll bet your pistol is of the same general era. I trust you've had the stocks off.
All of which is to validate my claim to at least limited standing to assess your pistol as a factory item.
W. H. B. Smith's Book of Pistols and Revolvers, 7th edition, 1968, illustrates your pistol on p. 663, as the model 935. They called the commercial version of the 1934, the model 934 Cougar. BTW, same book shows that engraved 418 was called model 420. Dunno if they called the engraved 935 by a different model number. I really don't know much of the history of Beretta. There is at least one good book out on the subject, but I haven't read it. Apparently the commercial examples of the Italian service pistols, models 1934 and 1935, were identified by model numbers which dropped the numeral "1" from the year of inception.
The Smith book is certainly worth having, especially with your liking for vintage auto pistols.
Best regards,
Johnny
