"CUSTOM LUGER ARTILLERY SEMI-AUTO PISTOL THAT BELONGED TO ALBERT SPEER. SN 870. Cal. 9 mm. Custom blue finish with 6-3/8" custom bbl with Germanic style rib & barleycorn front sight with fixed rear sight at back of rear toggle link. Entire pistol has about 60% coverage fine foliate, floral & arabesque pattern engraving with almost full coverage on bbl. It has dates "1920" & "1921" in gold over chamber & the DWM scroll on front toggle link is also in gold. Mounted with smooth ivory grips carved on left side "Albert Speer" with acorn & oak leaf patterns & acorn & oak leaf patterns on right side. Left side panel on frame & rail are engraved in foliate patterns with shaded background while right side rail is engraved with a series of "S"'s. All engraving has matching shaded background. Bottom of bbl has serial number & a crown proof with full serial number also on left side of receiver with another crown proof on right side of receiver. Frame has serial number in usual position at front edge. Left side of breech block has a large eagle proof. Right side of breech block has the imperial crown proof. Accompanied by an FXO all blue magazine with two eagle "37" proofs. Accompanied by a small tag which is inscribed "Given to Ben Miller by Count Bennadotte 1946". Ben Miller was Dr. Frank Miller's father. Ben Miller was a world traveler & big game hunter who traveled throughout Europe & Africa & therefore would have been in a position to have met someone such as Count Bennadotte. It appears that the name on tag is misspelled & should read Bernadotte. Another pistol, a Walther PP, of the Nazi era also has a similar tag with the name "Count Folke Bernadotte".___ A Google search disclosed that Folke Bernadotte was nephew of the Swedish King & during WWII helped save thousands of Jews during the Holocaust fleeing Nazi occupied Denmark into Sweden. As the war was ending he organized a convoy of white buses into Germany to rescue concentration camp prisoners, saving 20,000 before the end of the war and transporting them back to Sweden & another 10,000 in the month after the end of the war. In 1948 with the occupation of Palestine he became first UN mediator ever dispatched to negotiate a peace. His plans for peace between Israel & Palestine was rejected by both sides & on Sept. 17, 1948 he was assassinated by an Israeli gang. The Israeli commander who approved & signed off on the hit is alleged to have been none other than Yitzak Shamir who later became Prime Minister of Israel. How Ben Miller became closely associated with Count Bernadotte is unclear but they were both active during the same period & conceivably could have crossed paths on one of Mr. Miller's hunting safaris. ____Albert Speer was born in 1905, educated in Germany as an architect & received his license in 1927. He joined the Nazi party in 1931 and very shortly thereafter became Hitler's personal architect. He designed numerous facilities & buildings for Hitler and in 1942 became Germany's Minister of Armaments & supervised wartime production. It is speculated that his great organizational skills prolonged the war at least for an additional year. However, at the end he thwarted Hitler's scorched earth policy which, allegedly, would have utterly destroyed Germany. In 1946, at the Nuremburg war trials, he was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment. After he was released he wrote his memoirs, became wealthy and spent remainder of his years trying to make amends for himself & the Nazi Party. He died in 1981. PROVENANCE: Dr. Frank Miller Estate Collection. CONDITION: Very fine, all visible numbers are matching except firing pin which is numbered "04" & grips are unnumbered. Overall retains virtually all of its fine orig custom blue & straw colors. Grips are fine, show light wear in engraving & retain a wonderful mellow ivory patina. Mechanics are crisp, brilliant shiny bore. 4-36215 JR301 (4,000-5,000)"
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