April 24-25, 2019 Extraordinary, Sporting, & Collector Firearms
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/25/2019
Interesting German belt buckle gun. Nefarious undercover weapon consisting of four barrel derringer which is hinged to hide under flip-up cover. When in a desperate situation, wearer can press dual locking levers on left side of “buckle”, and the cover flips up, barrels spring outward and are locked into position by secondary lever on right side. Individual barrels can be fired by depressing four triggers on left. 3-1/2" cover is mounted with Nazi eagle with wreathed Swastika in talons. The actual design of belt pistols was an invention originally conceived by Louis Marquis while in a World War I POW camp in 1915. As an engineer and inventor, Marquis refined his design and in 1943 received an order to make five initial examples for Himmler's SS. The originals were all SS marked and had SS Eagles on the belt plate. Since World War II many variations of these have been observed and in our opinion they are all spurious. This example is "RZM" marked on most major components as well as "(Eagle) 358" inspected on back and on attaching bracket. Blue finish overall. CONDITION. Very fine over 50% of the thinning blue finish remaining. Action operates properly. All markings are crisp and legible.