I’ve never been much on commemorative editions of guns because it’s always just seemed like a gunmaker’s excuse to boost sales–build a stock gun and slap a special engraving on it, then call it a “limited edition” and sell it for twice as much money to the same people who already have three of the stock version. At least, that’s how I used to feel…

The further that I fall into the Glock collecting rabbit hole, the more I’ve started to appreciate “limited edition” models and find myself slowly accumulating them almost by accident. Bear in mind, if somebody twisted my arm and forced me to choose between a 1 of 1 30th Anniversary engraved Glock or a run of the mill 1st Gen 19, then the 19 would win hands down! But the commemoratives and special editions have started to grow on me.

A good case in point are the two pictured above: The Talo Premier Gold Edition Glock 19 and Glock 23. (link to Talo’s page: http://www.taloinc.com/glock-firearms/glock-premier-gold-model-19-23).

Talo is an arms distributor and they have a long history of collaborating with gun makers for special editions–again, just a ploy to increase sales, but with most of their offerings, they’ve at least done something different with the gun to make it stand out. They’ve done a good enough job of this as to attract a following of collectors who specialize in “Talo Editions” and the firearms tend to bring a significant premium. Don’t quote me as fact, but I believe the Premier Gold guns were Talo’s first foray with Glock and predates their focus on the different armed forces branches. Premier Gold slides have a high polish blued finish on the sides, jeweled barrels, and gold inlay logos–they are NOT special serial numbers like the later armed services issues so it is believed that all the modifications were done to stock Glocks by Talo, not by the factory. The combination of modifications aren’t the first thing I would have chosen for a Glock, but with the finished product in hand, it really works for me! They make quite the fetching pair and the gold inlaid Glock emblem just makes it pop that much more.

The coolest thing, as a collector, is that I stumbled across both of these for very reasonable prices on gunbroker just doing a generic search for Glocks. Talo only had 300 of both models made and that was around 2009 if memory serves. They retailed for $999 at the time and I picked up both for significantly less than that. There are dedicated Glock collectors who’ve searched for these unsuccessfully for years so I feel very lucky to have snagged both (separate listings, but within about two weeks of each other).

I’ve been playing around with a lightbox and different backgrounds to try to get pictures that show the luster of the finish and below are my most recent efforts; it’s a true statement to say that “the pictures don’t do them justice.” Some day I hope you can all make the trek to a show where I have my rare Glock exhibit set up and see them for yourselves. Until then, happy collecting!