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Gorgeous Case Hardened Walther PP (mint condition) 

Incredible Walther PP

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Hey guys, I have another educational video on Walther PPs and PPKs. Today I have an incredible gun to show you. I just love bringing you this stuff and I hope you watching as much as I love showing them to you.

Walther PP Box Bow Tie Label Variety

This is just at first it seems like a standard boxed PP. I've talked about these before, this is what the boxes looked like pre-1945. We also see this is the bow tie label, with a handwritten number on it. Later they had the green label that folded over and had a printed label, just to remind you, I've done those before. So at first glance this just looks like a regular boxed PP.

Walther PP Prices

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We have several on the site. They sell somewhere in the $2,200 - $2,500 range. When you open them up they typically will have either a pink interior or a yellow interior. This one must have been in the transition because it has both pink and yellow interior. And they all come with the cleaning rod.

What’s included in Original Walther PP Boxes?

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Sometimes you're lucky enough to have the original cellophane, but it comes with a cleaning rod, it comes with a cleaning tin. This one is an early tin because it has a picture of the Walther Factory. Some discoloration. These are made of aluminum so…I don't think its rust, it’s some kind of discoloration. But that's the early tin, later it was just the Walther banner on the tin. This is an original manual that came with the boxed guns. They’re usually dated on the back, right here, this one is dated 1939. Although the gun, I believe, is from 1935 but then something that hits you right away, when you look at what's left.

What makes this gun so special?

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Everything else up to here has been perfectly normal for a boxed PP from 1935.

Rare Variation Grip

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But what hits you right away is, check out that grip. Now that is a factory grip, it’s a rare variation grip. Usually not seen on a blued gun. The only times I see these color grips, is on a Verchromt gun or a presentation piece. Usually a presentation would be an engraved nickel or an engraved silver PP. I have seen these grips, and of course then if you look at the magazine, it's actually a PPK magazine. You're familiar with this magazine bottom, the thing…what they call the finger extension. I'll take that out, but that is basically just the bottom of a PPK magazine which is normal, with the same color to match the grip. So right away this is a very special gun, and let’s dig into it a little deeper.

Gorgeous Case Hardening

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The next thing that hits you like a ton of bricks is check out case hardening. It looks like it was done yesterday, absolutely immaculate. Also, case hardening on the front muzzle, case hardening on the back, beautiful blue finish which is typically Walther, nothing unusual there. You can see the fire blue safety which is perfectly intact. I call this a 99% gun, it's actually closer to 100%. This is like new, in the box.

Lazy S Walther’s: What the heck are they?

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Now one other mystery solved that had a little S on the tang, I'm going to call it the lazy S. And when I first got it I didn't know what the lazy S meant. I actually had another collector who said, I have a gun in the same serial range with the same lazy S. Do you know the meaning? I wrote to him last night and said, actually, I don't know the meaning. And then in the morning when I got up.

Dieter Marshall’s Special Book revealed the Lazy S

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Dieter Marshall who wrote this book, Dieter Marshall we are exclusive sellers of this book, you’ll see our name on the back. Dieter Marshall wrote this book, he’s from Germany, he translated into English but we offer it for sale in the English version. 

Lazy S Is for Schwarz; but Who the heck is Schwarz?

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And he wrote to me last night and said, the lazy S is for Schwarz. It's a retail store in Switzerland, actually they were all over Europe. There is a Schwarz group still in existence, they actually own several name brands such as all these stores, but they have over 10,000 stores throughout Europe.

Schwarz a Successful Entrepreneur?

I don't know if that's the same Schwarz, but this was a Swiss retailer, who ordered these to sell in their stores. So Schwarz was the retailer in 1935 in Switzerland who ordered this gun from the factory. I believe that this was done at the factory as a special request to the retailer Schwarz. If they were big enough and they had a large enough order, obviously Walther would do whatever they asked. So it's a winning combination in my opinion. I've never seen another gun like it, I've been doing this for 30 years, I have not seen another gun with this kind of case hardening color in the spots where this is.

Did Walther Factory or Walther do this?

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So one of the questions that you might ask is did the Walther Factory do this or did Schwarz the retailer do this? So one of the reasons that would come to mind is because we actually sold a gun about a year ago that had a retail name right on the top of the slide, Stahl and Berger. I didn't know what it was at the time, it’s an engraved with wooden grips, and it was also case hardened. Now, here's a picture of that gun that we sold. I only have the pictures left. But we did do a lot of research on this gun.

Case Hardening Fades Easily!

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This was made back in, I believe 1933. It was case hardened but as most of you know case hardening fades very easily, even from sunlight. So, going back to the original gun that we're talking about, this case hardening must have been kept in the box because it hasn't faded at all. It looks brand new.

Stahl and Berger Bare Metal PPs

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Stahl and Berger, through our research we found that they ordered bare metal PPs and PPKs. They engraved them, they put their name on them, they put their own pair of grips on them, and they sold them in their retail stores. So the bottom line is, early on when Walther was making PPs and PPKs, they were taking special orders, trying new things, obviously trying to get their goods out to the market, they're still coming out of the Great Depression. And so, they were selling these guns to Stahl and Berger. They also sold guns we know to Glosser in Zurich, Switzerland.

A Special Gun: Glosser

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I want to show you a special order. And again, going back to the key issue was this gun in the factory? Let's take a look at a very special gun. Now this one is documented to have been ordered by the Swiss Target Shooters Association and sold by the retailer Glosser from Zurich in 19…this actually is a 779 serial number, about 1932. Just check this out. Notice the trigger is very different. It has the extended barrel which is very different. The grips are wooden and that's very different. And look at the little tag, it actually has the Swiss tag on it, from the Swiss Target Association.

10 of these Guns in Existence

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So they ordered 10 of these. There's only a few known to exist, this is one of only a few and notice the front strap. Notice the magazine is unique. It's got a Verchromt finish. One side note on the Verchromt finish, every real Verchromt PP I’ve seen has a blued rear sight. So if you ever are in doubt about the finish, if it’s an original Verchromt which is satin nickel, original satin nickel guns will have a blued rear sight.

Verchromt PP

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And I'll just quickly show you another Verchromt. There's a Verchromt PP, notice the grips, special order grips I mentioned they came on Verchromt guns and the rear sight is blued. I can't say absolutely that's always true, but whenever somebody sends me a gun that is nickeled and the rear sight is also nickeled, I will tell them that typically it would have a blued rear sight.

One of Kind Gun

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So in summary, you got to see three guns for the price of one. This one is the one that came in this week, it lasted on the site for about 10 minutes, sold right away. Again, one of a kind, I've never seen any other gun with this configuration. There are several with the lazy S, so keep an eye out for them, that means Schwarz, a Swiss retailer. But, just wanted to share that with you today before it goes out the door.

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