Tell Model-3

Tell Model-3 Air Pistol.

With thanks for the following two pics to John G.

With thanks for these pics to Trev.

With thanks to John Z for this pic:

These are the internal parts:

And the markings:

With thanks to George for these pics:

With thanks to Michael for these pics:

Tell Model-3 Air Pistol - Patent Information.

With thanks to Peter for the scan of patent information by Dennis Commins.

Tell Model-3 Air Pistol - 1937 Patent.

With thanks to Steffen.

Tell Model-3 Air Pistol - Instructions (early and late).

These are for the Tell 3 patent pending:

And these are for the patented Tell 3 and do not contain trigger adjustment instructions, but instead has the addition of general instructions in Swedish(?):

Tell Model-3 Air Pistol - Parkerised - Serial No.4.

With thanks to Mick for these pics.

Note the pistol has a Parkerised finish and there are no traces of red paint on the 'Tell' grip badges - maybe this touch followed later? It also has 'FOREIGN' stamped on the underside of the barrel, so might have been made with export in mind - although curiously it has 'MADE IN GERMANY' stamped on the cylinder in the usual place too.

Tell Model-3 Air Pistol - Boxed - Serial No.496.

With thanks to Chris for these pics:

Tell Model-3 Air Pistol - Boxed - Claimed to be Serial No.926.

This pistol sold at Holts Auctioneers in London in March 2017 for a hammer price of £1,300, total to pay £1,690. Note: the serial number is unverified.

Auction blurb:

"AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE BOXED .177 BREAK-BARREL AIR-PISTOL, MODEL 'TELL 3', serial no. 926,
one of only approximately 50 produced between 1936-1940, with round tapering 5 3/8in. barrel marked 'KAL 4 1/2mm' over 'CAL .177' , blued air-chamber stamped 'VENUS WAFFENWERK ZELLA-MEHLIS' on the left hand side, articulated flush-fitting blued cocking link laying along the top of cylinder and stamped 'TELL 3' together with a depiction of a man holding a break-barrel air-rifle above an apple, dove-tailed blade fore-sight, elevating rear-sight, blued frame with brown mottled chequered bakelite one-piece grip, both sides of grip inlet with red and gold 'TELL' trademark medallions (small corrosion patches to blued finish from storage, paint worn to grip medallions, bluing gone on back-strap), complete with its makers black crocodile skin effect card carton, the lid embossed with the Tell trademark, a silhouette of the pistol and the wording 'TELL 3' in gothic script, all picked out in gilt wash and further embossed 'MADE IN GERMANY' to bottom right hand corner, the interior of box lid with pink pasted instruction label in German, English and French, the tray with pale blue card compartments for the pistol, targets, pellets and cleaning rod (all absent bar last), some small scuffs and wear, together with a card box of period pellets by 'H. UTENDOERFFER, NÜRNBERG' (partial contents only)."

Tell Model-3 Air Pistol - Serial No.169 - Grip Repairs.

With thanks to Steve for these pics.

Tell Model-3 Air Pistol - Serial No.319.

Tell 3 serial no. 319.

Tell Model-3 Air Pistol - Serial No.822.

Tell Model-3 Air Pistol - Boxed - Claimed to be Serial No.1000.

This pistol sold recently for a high price on eGun.de.

The Swedish seller claimed it was stamped '1000', which would make it the highest serial number known if true.

Note that the seller advertises it as a 'DRPa' (ie. very early model) yet the 'DRP' model instructions inside the box lid (plus the high serial no., obviously) suggest it's a late model.

Tell Model-3 Air Pistol - Serial No.215 - David Swan Collection.

With thanks to Rod Meek of Anderson & Garland Auctioneers ( http://www.andersonandgarland.com) for permission to post these pics of a gun auctioned in 2015.

Auction blurb: "A Tell model 3 .177cal. air pistol, no. 215 circa 1937, fitted break barrel action to patinated steel body, wood effect plastic chequer cut grip, 10in. long overall."

Hammer price: £520

Tell Model-3 Air Pistol - Serial No.406.

This pistol was up for auction at Holts Auctioneers (the day after this entry was posted) in September 2017.

Edit: hammer price was £1,800.

Auction blurb:

"VENUS WAFFENWERK, GERMANY
AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE BOXED .177 BREAK-BARREL AIR-PISTOL, MODEL 'TELL 3', serial no. 406,
one of only approximately 50 produced between 1936-1940, with round tapering 5in. barrel marked 'KAL 4.5mm' over 'CAL .177', blued air-chamber stamped 'VENUS WAFFENWERK ZELLA-MEHLIS' over 'MADE IN GERMANY' on the left hand side, articulated flush-fitting blued cocking link laying along the top of cylinder and stamped 'TELL 3' together with a depiction of a man holding a break-barrel air-rifle above an apple, dove-tailed blade fore-sight, elevating rear-sight, blued frame with brown mottled chequered bakelite one-piece grip, both sides of grip inlet with red and gold 'TELL' trademark medallions (slight speckling to the blued finish from storage but much finish throughout) together with its makers black crocodile skin effect card carton, the lid embossed with the Tell trademark, a silhouette of the pistol and the wording 'TELL 3' in gothic script, all picked out in gilt (lid corners gone), the interior of box lid with pink pasted instruction label in German, English and French overstamped with a retailer's stamp 'F. KAISER, BUCHSENMACHER, KLAGENFURT', the tray with pale blue card compartments and including a period tin for pellets and the original cleaning rod, some scuffs and tears"

 Tell Model-3 Air Pistol - Serial No.147

Tell 3 serial no. 412

This air pistol sold recently on eGun.de for 312 euro (for parts)

The seller said: "Rarität Tell Mod.3 Luftpistole produziert von 1936 - 1940 im VENUS WAFFENWERK ZELLA MEHLIS - cal. 4,5mm Lauf gezogen - Lt. div. Luftgewehrsammler Seiten und Amerikanischen Foren sowie dem Blue Book Airguns sind wohl nicht mehr als 1000 Stück davon produziert worden.

2017 wurde eine dieser seltenen LP in gutem Zustand hier angeboten und für 1700 Euro verkauft. Die Auktion habe ich abgespeichert und kann das daher auch Nachweisen.

Bei dem hier angebotenen Exemplar handelt es sich um eine defekte Pistole mit Fehlteilen und einer gebrochenen Griffschale in allgemein nicht so gutem Zustand -   Siehe Bilder.

Auf Grund der Seltenheit sehe ich diese rare LP jedoch auch auf jeden Fall als Belegstück / Ersatzteilspender oder zum Herrichten immer noch gut geeignet. 

Mehr Bilder gern auf Anfrage.

Versand versichert mit DHL und Nachweis.

Am 20.08.2018 um 00:04:59 Uhr fügte der Verkäufer folgende Ergänzung hinzu:

Die Serien Nr. ist 412 - Soweit ich sehen kann ist die LP Nummerngleich. 

Am 20.08.2018 um 21:20:25 Uhr fügte der Verkäufer folgende Ergänzung hinzu:

Auf Grund von diversen Anfragen zur Funktionsfähigkeit etc. möchte ich nochmals eindeutig mitteilen :  Wie bereits im Angebotstext beschrieben ist die LP defekt, nicht funktionsfähig und hat Fehlteile siehe Bilder. Daher wird Sie auch als Belegstück  / Ersatzteilspender oder zum Herrichten angeboten.

Sollten weiterhin noch Fragen oder Unklarheiten sein, können Sie mich selbstverständlich jederzeit gern anschreiben.

Google translate:

"Rarity Tell Mod.3 air pistol produced from 1936 - 1940 in the VENUS WEAPONS ZELLA MEHLIS - cal. 4.5mm barrel drawn - Lt. Various Airgun Collectors Pages and American Forums as well as the Blue Book Airguns have probably produced no more than 1000 pieces of it.

Tell 3 - eGun.de 

With thanks to Eberhard for the heads up on this eGun sale.

The pistol sold for 1,245 euro.

Tell 3 serial no. 837 

This pistol was sold by Holts Auctioneers for £1,100 hammer (£1,430 with commission) in September 2018.

Tell 3s with broken grips

Enough of these have turned up to show the Bakelite grip is extremely fragile.

The second pistol shown is the one expertly repaired on this thread:

https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery.com/tell/tell-model-3-air-pistol/#post-383

And another:

Two Tell 3s auctioned on eGun.de

The first one, which the seller says is in the serial no. range of 5XX.

Auction blurb:

"Die Luftpistole Tell Modell 3 erschien vermutlich ab 1938 (Fertigungszeitraum: ca. 1936 bis ca. 1940) vom Hersteller Venus-Waffenverk Zella-Mehlis in Thüringen, Deutschland. Schön orig. gestempelt Nr. 5XX. Kal. 4,5mm. Länge 260 mm Gewicht 950 g Höhe 130 mm. Funktionsfähig. Gebrauchter Zustand. Es wurde getestet: Schussenergie ca. 0,68 Joule, Geschwindigkeit ca. 77 m/s mit Ballistischer Chronograph R2 (Gewicht der Kugel 0,47 g). Siehe bilder. Die Luftpistole kommt aus einer Sammlung."

Edit: sold for 671 Euros.

The second, in the serial range 3XX:

Auction blurb:

"Die Luftpistole Tell Modell 3 mit Formgriff rechts erschien vermutlich ab 1937 (Fertigungszeitraum: ca. 1936 bis ca. 1940) vom Hersteller Venus-Waffenverk Zella-Mehlis in Thüringen, Deutschland. Schön orig. gestempelt Nr. 3XX. Kal. 4,5mm. Länge 260 mm Gewicht 950 g Höhe 130 mm. Funktionsfähig. Gebrauchter Zustand. Es wurde getestet: Schussenergie ca. 0,51 Joule, Geschwindigkeit ca. 46,6 m/s mit Ballistischer Chronograph R2 (Gewicht der Kugel 0,47 g). Siehe bilder. Die Luftpistole kommt aus einer Sammlung. Keine zusätzlichen Informationen zum diese Tell 3"

Tell 3 serial no.926 

Sold by Holts Auctioneers in March 2019 for £500. Their blurb was: 

"A RARE .177 BARREL-COCKING AIR-PISTOL, MODEL 'TELL 3', serial no. 926, 
one of a limited number produced between 1936-1940, with re-blued round tapering 5in. barrel marked 'KAL 4.5mm' over 'CAL .177', re-blued air-chamber stamped 'VENUS WAFFENWERK ZELLA-MEHLIS' over 'MADE IN GERMANY' on the left hand side, articulated flush-fitting re-blued cocking link laying along the top of cylinder and stamped 'TELL MOD. 3', together with a depiction of a man holding a break-barrel air-rifle above an apple, dove-tailed blade fore-sight, elevating rear-sight, re-blued frame with brown mottled chequered bakelite one-piece grip, both sides of grip inlet with 'TELL' trademark medallions with red painted infill (some slight loss to detail through refinishing) "

Tell model 3 serial number 2xx 

Sold recently on eGun.de for 898.00 euros hammer.

Note that the box seems to have cover text in silver rather than the usual gold type, although this may just be the pics. But the 'Tell' decal in the grips appears to be gold, as expected...

Translated auction blurb: "1936 Air pistol Tell 3 with cardboard packaging VERY RARE!

Tell 3 serial no. 145 

Tell Model 3 serial no.446 

Pics copyright Holts Auctioneers

Boxed Tell Model-3 

Tell 3 air pistol (eGun December 2019) 

Tell Model 3 serial no. 369 

With thanks to Florian.

Note that this example lacks the usual markings.

Tell Model-3 serial no. 383 

With thanks to Janne.

Tell Model-3 (x2 in large calibres - 6mm and 61/3mm) 

It's a mystery as to who produced these pistols in larger calibres than the usual 4.5mm.

John Griffiths, author of The Ecyclopedia of Spring Air Pistols, spotted this IMPORT stamp on the 6 1/3 mm pistol:

This appears to be the latter pistol sold in a Swedish auction in May 2020:

John says about this pistol:

This is my take on the 6⅓ mm pistol. This gun would most probably have started off as a war-years export from Germany to Sweden, as it is known that many were exported there up to 1944. I have copies of early 1940’s Swedish catalogues advertising them, but in .177 calibre only. The word IMPORT has the same meaning in Swedish as in English, and would serve the same role as the word FOREIGN found on many of our imports.

The calibre, expressed in the form “6⅓ “, is peculiarly German and is found in many vintage German catalogues, but I have never come across it in Swedish catalogues. It seems most likely therefore that the gun barrel was made and stamped in Germany, by Venuswaffenwerk, and the stamping has obviously been made with a purpose-made die. A Swedish company is unlikely to have any need to drill out a .177 barrel to such an odd calibre, and is also unlikely to have had access to such a specialist die.

I can only assume that in the war years, Venuswaffenwerk were making do with whatever materials they could get for airgun production, which had to take second place to main weapons production, and was only tolerated to earn a bit of much needed foreign currency for the Reich. The 6⅓ mm calibre barrelling used on this Tell 3 pistol was just a result of expediency, making use of what happened to be available at a very difficult time. The pistol, perhaps part of a small batch, was shipped off to Sweden and then we know the rest of the story.

Tell Model-3 (in VGC box) 

With thanks to Eberhard for the heads up.

Spotted on Swedish auction site Tradera. 

Tell Model-3 (plated) 

With thanks to Brian.

John Griffiths, author of The Encyclopedia of Spring Air Pistols, says:

Whatever the plating technique used, I would still be very suspicious of the originality of any vintage airgun less than 100 years old if it has lost most of its plating, as this suggests that the original plating process was an amateur job and not something sanctioned by the manufacturer of the gun.

Tell Model-3 (boxed) 

With thanks to Eberhard.

Tell Model-3 (rounded grip, chequering variation) 

Spotted by Steve. Currently coming up for auction by Wallis & Wallis, UK.

Tell Model-3 stripdown 

With thanks to Baz.

Tell Model-3 restoration 

With thanks to Veco for this extraordinary salvage operation.

Tell 3 nickel-plated serial no. 981 (6mm) 

Also pictured above, here:

https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery.com/tell/tell-model-3-air-pistol/#post-5921

With thanks to John G.

The finish was tested:

John G explained on the airgunbbs.com:

I now have the test result carried out by the owner. The test surface was cleaned and a cold blue solution applied with pressure. No discoloration of the surface whatsoever was observed. This means unequivocally that the bright surface is not polished steel and must be nickel plate. (Although a similar result would have been obtained if the surface was chrome plated or stainless nickel steel, these are extremely unlikely scenarios)...

To my eye the plating looks very professional and in keeping with the age of the gun. The crispness of the lettering and other markings suggests that the plating was carried out on a virgin surface. So I think we are justified in believing that on very rare occasions, Venuswaffenwerk made the Tell 3 available in a nickel finish. This is not too much of a stretch of the imagination, as they did also for a brief period offer the Tell 2 nickel plated...

Actually the green corrosion found under the rear sight is suggestive of copper, and one can also see a small area of copper metal. Certainly there are no signs of rust.

Chris T replied

What is also interesting is the fact that the rear sight is also plated - all the genuine nickel or chrome plated Webley Senior/Mk.1 and Westley Richards Highest Possible air pistols I have seen, have always had their rear sight blades left blued. For obvious reasons.

It would seem that the Germans/Tell did not consider having a plated rear sight blade an issue? Although having said that I have just looked at my mint boxed DOLLA nickel plated pistol 'outfit', and even that has its little rear sight separately blued.

However my nickel plated HAENEL Mod 50 & 100 have their rear sights plated, however those components are an integral part of the pistol, so clearly it would have been impractical to have blued them separately.

But I also have a mint 1900 'The Jewel' Gem heavyweight, which is fully nickel plated, except for the fore sight and rear sight which have been left blued.

Given that the rear sight blade on the Tell 3 is a relatively large component I would have expected it to have remained blued, but in this game there are always the exception to the rule, and this might be such?...

Another even more pertinent question to ask and resolve is WHEN was the nickel plating applied? For example there are numerous plated Webley Seniors knocking around, worn pistols that have been plated either for aesthetic reasons, or perhaps to enhance their value? Incidentally most of these have their rear sight plated as well, as those that carried out the plating obviously were not aware that they should be blued!

It is possible that this Tell 3 falls into the above category, but would need someone with specialist knowledge of plating in order to determine when the plating was applied I daresay.

John G responded:

Yes, I agree with that. But it would be impossible to tell a factory plated finish from a later plating if the latter was carried out professionally and on a mint gun. The current pistol under discussion probably falls into this category, as the crispness of the markings would indicate that the gun had not suffered any significant surface corrosion before it was plated. The markings are still as clearly defined as those seen on Tell 3's with all their original blue...

As to the question of the rear sight blade being plated rather than blued, I do not think we can be too categoric about that when it comes to German guns, as there are rare occurrences of plated blades. For example the MGR Diana 8 Target pistol...

What intrigues me is the coincidence of an unusual finish being applied to an exceptional gun. It may be a flight of fancy, but could it be that this was the last Tell 3 to be produced and so was given a plated finish by the manufacturer to mark the occasion? 

As Don says in post 20 above, there remains the question of the unusual 6 mm calibre. Was it another celebration by the company of the special significance of the gun, or just an employee with a penchant for darts? Or was it the clearing out of workshop experimentals in the last throes of a company struggling to survive near the end of the war? We will probably never know.

Tell Model-3 - two trigger types 

With thanks to Steve for this research.

He says:

Have the good fortune of collecting several Tell 3 pistols over the years. Just got one that was said not to work. Had some others that were having issues so I spent about a week taken these pistols apart and getting them all to work. In the process I saw two distinctly different trigger types. I did a lot of looking in the “Gallery” pictures and set out to solve this trigger trivia. First below is the patent drawings for the Tell 3, looking at them you can see several types of trigger mechanisms, none really made it into the final pistol. The drawing in the lower right is the closest.

The tigger type can be easily distinguished by looking at where the rivet is place in the trigger. Low in the first picture and in the middle on the second pic.

In the first trigger type the internal spring is attached to the bar and compressed up into the tube body.
In the second trigger a spring is attached to a pin and the spring is stretched as the trigger is pulled. Just the opposite.

You would think that they were improving the trigger and one would replace the other? But not totally the case, the majority of the triggers to serial number 500? Are the first type but I saw the second type occasionally in that range, some pretty early. It does appear that from 600? On the second type is used, and the first type disappears.

The two types give a totally different feel. The first a fairly short pull, the second a much longer maybe ligher pull which is probably why it was used in the later production numbers. Looking at pic of the second trigger, that longer pull puts the trigger much farther out and always exposes a little notch on the back of the trigger, never exposed on the first type.

Tell Model-3 (casing a pair of pistols) 

With thanks to Steve.

Tell Model-3 1940 US patent drawing of spring/piston mechanism 

With thanks to Steve and Bruce Jr.

Tell 3 register of serial numbers 

With thanks to Bruce Jr:

Eberhard's list November 2024:

Tell mod.3

  20 - eGun-19330278
  49 - VAG  vernickelt
 129 - Facebook - Reidar Liell Rokseth
 214 - eGun-14442987
 412 - eGun- 7086932
 440 - Holts 02 Dec 2024 - Lot 99
 590 - eGun-13253184
 641 - holts 1995,-englisch Pfund
 665 - VAG  .22
 781 - tradera.net-566765036
 926 - LINK HERE
 981 - airgunbbs.com  vernickelt 6 mm
 984 - wiatrowki.cloudtown.pl

First posted in 2020.

With thanks to Janne for the following list: