I was able to just recently complete a set of 1936 Thompson catalogs with my final addition of the middle or tan catalog shown.
For those with Hill's book there are pictures but only B&W so thought I would share a color snap of my set so everyone could see the variations.
You can clearly see how I judge an original copy by looking at the trigger on the lower TSMG for each of them, the trigger touches a bullseye ring then the upper TSMG muzzle just touches another bullseye ring and the trigger does not.
Other reprints have a couple variations but will not look exactly the same in this regard.
Top and bottom are a green and dark blue, the middle one is tan and black. Not exactly how they were described in Hill's book but I have heard of plenty of errors in there. IIRC Hill's book says the bottom one would be blue and "TAN" as you can see that is not the case. Also Hill's book shows an unusual variation on one of the catalogs pictured in terms of position of the triggers and bullseye, which makes me think they are showing a repro but what do I know?!
The top two have the same Nassau street address and the lower one has the Pine street address.
Bottom one has an insert from Federal Laboratories.
I have seen blue green versions that were faded enough to look almost exactly like the middle tan one, but open it up and the it was obvious enough what it was.
Enjoy Merry Christmas
Image now hosted on my website
