There are a lot of guns out there attributed to German leaders and politicians of the Second World War. Many of these are completely specious, and many more are true simply because these men had a lot of guns. What we are looking at today is an exception; one of the rather small number of guns whose personal provenance to Hermann Göring is quite well documented.

This is a P08 Luger manufactured by the Krieghoff firm of Suhl and beautifully engraved, platinum plated, and fitted with embellished ivory grips for Göring. We know he purchased several of these from Krieghoff, although the exact number is unknown (I would suspect 5-10). They are serialized in a range between the 16,900s and 17,200s and all bear the same presentation marking, dated August 15, 1939. It appears that they were purchased for Göring to use as gifts to various cronies, but we do not know or any specific recipients by name. Several currently documented in the US have solid provenance to US servicemen who brought them home from Europe as souvenirs in 1945.

For more information, the best reference (albeit unfortunately out of print) is "The Krieghoff Parabellum" by Randall Gibson.

Thanks to Legacy Collectibles for providing me access to film this remarkable pistol!