Georg Luger created a handgun for his company DWM to compete in the US military trials of 1907. He took examples of this 'Pistole Parabellum' to the trials personally, where they performed well.
Despite this, DWM withdrew from the trials, believing that a foreign handgun was extremely unlikely to be accepted, and thus refused the further demand for 200 further pieces for continuing tests.
One of these early pieces of military craftsmanship - marked '1' on the side - disappeared completely. One is now at the R.W. Norton Gallery in Shreveport Louisiana - though some have argued it was the 'proof' held in Germany and only reached America much later.
 The surviving Luger from the 1907 trials, bought for $1m in 1989 (Click to enlarge) |
The other, marked '2', passed into collection. It mostly changed hands for near token amounts - the face value of a small handgun until the spectacular $1m paid for it by Indonesian billionaire Yani Haryanto which led it to be nicknamed The Million Dollar Luger.
The gun has not been in public sale other than this, so the Greg Martin auction was something of a test case. The weapon was won with a bid of $494,000 - still a spectacular price for a firearm.
Those interested in militaria may wish to take a look at some of these rare and collectible items which are available for sale.
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Image: Greg Martin Auctions
