Hitler's Gun or Exact Replica?

The day has Come!

So here it is guys, the day has come. I actually have Adolf Hitler's Walther PP, Gold engraved with his initials given to him on his 50th birthday, April 20, 1939. So just before the hostilities broke out in September of '39. 

Disclaimer!

Now, disclaimer, if you think this is clickbait, probably a little bit is that's true because this is a replica, an exact replica of Hitler's gun. 

I did it for you

This was on a recent auction, and I kind of kept my mouth shut about it because I figured it'd be a lot of attention. I went to the auction, the estimate was $8,000 - $12,000. And I thought, well, that's way too much money for a replica. But then I thought about you. And I thought how much you would like to see this gun, which is an exact replica of the gun that Hitler had in his safe at his apartment.

And I also thought, you know what, I probably overpaid for this gun. But I've really thought about it a lot and I think I figured out a way to get my money back on this gun, it involves you again. So stay tuned to the end and I'll give you my idea. And you can tell me what you think. 

Today we'll talk about...

So let me come a little bit closer, I'm going to show you the gun, and I'm going to show you the letter that comes with it, so you can get a little bit of the history behind this gun. Okay, first and foremost, this is a working gun. It was made by the American Historical Society and they do make guns that are replicas of famous guns. 

The American Historical Society

Here's their website, and you can kind of page through. I see engraved Colts, engraved Winchesters and historic guns, basically, I guess they get permission, the licenses to do a limited number. A lot of these engraved guns, they would make about 100 of each. So I assume they're licensed to let's say do 100 replica guns, and they sell for about $5,000 because of the amount of work that goes into it. 

Back to Hitler's Gun (Replica)

So this gun was made in the early 90s, and I have a letter about that, and they only made five. The only years I've been collecting, I've never seen another one available. This was the first one I ever saw come forward and I was wondering, well wait a minute, is this a Walther? Is this a working gun? How good is the replica? There are very few pictures of this actual gun, we're going to take a look at that in a minute. But this is a pretty stunning example of the gun that Hitler was given on his 50th birthday. 

Clarification

Now I want to clarify, this is not the gun that he used to shoot himself. Some people have commented to me in the past and say, isn't it true that Hitler shot himself with a gold engraved gun? They are talking about this gun, this gun is well documented but this is not the gun he used to shoot himself, we'll go over that. The gun that Hitler was given by the Walther family, that was in his safe in Munich at the end of the war. 

The Engraving

So let's take a look first at the engraving. This is loosely translated 'Honorarium from the Walther Family'. So basically, an honorary gift from the Walther family, and again, his 50th birthday. The gun in real life is not serial numbered and this one is not, except under the grips. Now I have not personally looked, I did look at this one. But the one that Hitler received, I'm told if you take the grips off, it's written right here.

And that's the way this one is as well. On the right side, you see the reverse. It's not a factory logo, but it just basically gives the factory information. And let's take a look at the letter and we're going to take a closer look at this gun and compare it to the real one. 

The Letter

So this is Timothy George, he's the one that did the engraving. He's a master engraver and it's deeply engraved. The advantage of doing this from scratch, by the way, so they made these from scratch, this was not a Walther pistol. They made these from scratch because soft metal was easier to deeply engrave. It's really hard to deeply engrave the hard metal. They mentioned a book that has pictures of this gun.

So, Timothy George was able to do this engraving all from pictures that are in a book. Now we're going to look at some of these pictures and I find them to be very grainy, not very good. So it's amazing that he did as well as he did. They're deeply engraved, 24 karat gold plated, ivory grips and he carved them himself and then he inlaid, so the initials AH are 18 karat gold as well as the Walther banner. Now he claims that in today's market, and this letter was written for the auction that I bought it from April of 2021, it would cost about $10,000 to make this, again five copies of this. So it's certainly worth the $10,000, I did pay a little bit more than that. 

Make this our most watched Video

But as I said, I really wanted to show it to you. In fact, I was driven obsessively to get this gun just to do this video. In fact, my hope is this is our number one watched video. Right now, our most-watched video is a Springfield 1911 that was dug up, we have 1.7 million views. I'm hoping this will beat it.  I'm sure it will, it's just a matter of time, it could be 20 years from now, but let's see if we can pass it around the world and let's get these views. So this is the gun, and I'm going to compare it to another deeply engraved gun from around the same period of time. 

Who has the Original Gun?

But first, let's take a look at this compared to the original. This is about the best I could do. I found about a dozen pictures of just this left-hand side of Adolf Hitler's gun. So whoever owns it now is not allowing pictures to be taken. They're anonymous, and we're not sure where they live. There are rumors that it was bought at auction and went back to a collector in Germany. I don't know that that's true, but that was actually written in a paper that the buyer remained anonymous and it was sent overseas. And I believe some people say that it's in Germany.

Who would have Known?

You can see the level of engraving. This is a lot more simplistic than the detail here but it's pretty darn good. Look at the safety, like a circular mark here, circular mark here. And if you watch my videos, you know that I say the reason they went from 90 degree to 60 degree is because this hits and chips the grip. Who would have known that Adolf Hitler's gun is chipped right where that -- it was called the idiot chip. And here's the mistake on the replication. 

First Mistake on the Replica

My theory is that Timothy George who did this, he used a modern PP, I'll show you why I think that. He used an example of a modern PP to do the basic architecture of this, and then looked at the pictures. Because this is a 60 degree, obviously, that's a 90 degree. So Hitler's gun was probably first manufactured in '35, engraved much later, and then presented to him in 1939. So there's one mistake that was made. 

Second Mistake

And here's the second mistake that was made. The end of the screw is coming out this way on the original, which makes sense. Because for example, I have this deeply engraved, real gun from the factory and you can see this is the end of the screw coming through on the left hand side. And here the head of the screw is going in on the left-hand side. So second mistake, the grip screw goes in the wrong direction and the safety is wrong, we've got the chip.

I can't find the other side of the Gun

Now in terms of the original, I couldn't find the other side of the gun. So obviously Timothy George had a picture of the other side of the gun. And again, I spent hours on the internet. I've found dozens of places where this is recorded, the sale of this and that there is an anonymous buyer. I did find the other side of the gun. 

How did I know it was a Replica?

Actually I scrolled down through this article, this was an article in a magazine, and I found the other side of the gun and I thought oh, finally there's the other side of the gun, but I realized very quickly, this is one of the replicas. For one thing, you can see the grip screw is going through the wrong way, the engraving itself is identical. Whereas over here, the engraving itself is a lot less detailed than the actual. Let me tell you a little bit about the story of Hitler's gun and the gun that he used, the PP and PPK that he carried with him. I'll give you a little bit of history and that'll give you some background about Hitler's gun and what he carried. 

I got dressed up for this Video

I'm still excited about this video. I even got out the black shirt for this you know, I normally wear the grey, but people told me to stop wearing black because when I put a blued gun up against a black shirt, it just disappears. But you can't beat black with gold and white gloves, it's just phenomenal. But let's get to the history of Hitler's guns. 

Mark Felton Productions, check it Out

Now people will often point out that Hitler didn't carry a gun and when you search the internet you do not see a gun on his belt or on his person. I don't know of any picture; if there is one, I'm sure some of you will send it to me. But here's what I highly recommend. Go to Mark Felton productions; he has a YouTube channel. I'm sure some of you are already are subscribed to his channel.

He has a video and we provide a link here but he has a video about Hitler's suicide gun. And I went back and watched that several times. I'm just amazed at the level of detail that he goes into about who is there, he names the names, he gives the caliber of the guns, he does everything but give you the serial number; but he tells you exactly what happened to Hitler's gun. This gun was not on Hitler's person when he killed himself, this gun was not in the bunker. This gun was many miles away in Munich, in his apartment. Now, I believe that was an apartment he shared with Eva Braun. And I'll tell you a little bit about how this came to the United States. 

The Story about the Original Gun

But let's stick with the suicide gun to start. It's a basic story and again go back and watch it because I can't get all the names right. But people knew that Hitler and Eva were going to commit suicide. They go into their private living quarters and shut the door. They heard the gunshot. And they came in and the valet and they named the valet and quote him saying 'I could smell burnt almond' which is cyanide and I could see the gun sitting -- It said Eva Braun had her legs crossed up under her, so she's sitting on her side like that and then the gun was sitting there.

It said Hitler had two guns. One was sewn into a leather purse, was sewn into the trousers of his pants, internally. So he carried a PPK in his trousers at all times. It was sewn in there so that if there was ever an assassination attempt, he would have that. And then other times he would carry a second gun and that was a shoulder holster PP in his vest. So again, his jacket had a PP, his pants had a PP -- there's a joke in there somewhere. His pants had a PPK in it. He conjectures that the PPK is in 25 caliber, which would be extremely rare, but Hitler could have gotten whatever he wanted.

And of course, the PP was 7.65. So according to several sources, again, Mark Felton talks about several eyewitnesses who testified to the fact that Martin Bormann and the valet were in the room. They removed the guns and gave the guns to the SS, head of security, his personal bodyguards. The bodies were, of course carried out, they were put into a pit and burned. The Russians were the first ones there, and we'll talk about that later. But the Russians were the first one there, and they found the bodies. Now back to the guns. 

What happened to the Guns

So the officer in charge, and again, they named him, he had the two guns. Two SS officers, one grabbed one gun, and the other grabbed the other gun and they said, I'm taking this for better days. So basically, I hear a hint of they knew that these were valuable souvenirs, and would be worth some money. So they took them for better days. Meaning if we get out of this alive, this becomes something very valuable. So the guy who grabbed and again, he names the guy, the SS officer that grabbed the PPK, he fled.

Everybody's trying to get out of there because the Russians are coming. He's captured by the Russian and interrogated heavily, I would say tortured, where they got all this information. And lo and behold, in the early 1990s, that PPK shows up in the Kremlin. 

But Stalin was not around in the 90s

Now the story is told that Stalin personally had the gun on his desk, and he would tell people, this is the gun that Hitler shot himself with. He's been saying that for years. Of course, Stalin was not alive in the 90, I know that, but Stalin had this and then it just went into a Kremlin safe. 

Hitler's Skull!

He also had Hitler's skull. I mean, I saw it on the History Channel, way back when it was like, lost history. And they showed the PPK it was heavily damaged. They also showed Hitler's skull, which had a bullet hole in it. And so that went to the Kremlin. Nobody knew where it was until the fall of the iron curtain. So that kind of collaborates the story of the PPK when the man was captured by the Russians. 

By the Bridge in Berlin

That guy named the officer, he runs toward the American lines, he knows he's going to get captured and the gun is going to be confiscated. So he buries it, and they named the bridge, it says 'by this bridge in Berlin I buried it'. Now since Mark Felton has over 2 million viewers, I would bet if you go to that bridge, there are all kinds of people out there with metal detectors looking for that gun. But he said they never found it. So it was buried by this bridge and he survived the war. But everybody's stories collaborated in terms of the two guns that were there when Hitler killed himself. 

The Story of the Gold Engraved Gun

Now the story of the gold engraved gun. Obviously a gift from the Walther Factory. And this kind of relates back to Eva Braun. Remember when I talked about her ring, I did a video about Eva Braun's ring, and that GIs looted the apartment and took her ring along with others things. So these three GIs, they tell the story. And when the gun was auctioned, the story is printed in the newspapers back in the 90s, that three soldiers went in.

The apartment had already been pretty much ransacked. They found a safe behind the wall, they broke open the safe, they found this gun. This is a replica, of course, they found this gun and knew that it was extremely valuable and got it back into the United States. The three of them together, took it to a dealer and said would you sell this for us, and they were going to split the funds. 

Here is the Amazing Part of the Story

Now, you think all of that is an amazing story. Here's the most amazing part of this story that I still can't get over. It fills me with regrets. In 1991, that dealer takes it to a small auction house. They must have done no publicity because there's nothing on the internet other than these grainy, crappy pictures; not a lot of publicity. I was collecting in 1991 and I never heard this story. I was collecting Walthers, those were my speciality. I was out looking for party leader grips at the time. 1991 I am desperately looking for Walthers. This gun sells at an auction.

Actually, it was 1987 this gun sells in auction for $114,000. Now, because of the crack in there, I would have only paid $113,000. Now really, whoever bought that gun and again, they're anonymous, they're out there, they're watching this video, I can double your money right now. Just contact me please. This gun sold for $114,000. It was in the newspapers at the time I found newspaper articles. And I just have to say about that auction company they did a disservice to... Anyway, I just know today at auction, it would certainly go for a million dollars, in my opinion. I'm happy to just own a replica of this. And again, I'd like to have more information, there was five of these out there. I bought this one, there's four more, I've never seen or heard about one of these guns being offered for sale.

Is there any more Information

So I would love to hear from all of you. Does anybody have more information or more pictures about Hitler's gun? And then secondly, any other information about the four other ones of these. I'm going to hold on to this for a while just for comparison, you have seen this gun before, it's been a while. This is a factory engraved deeply engraved Walther PP. 

Let's compare the Engravings

Let's compare these two in terms of the engraving and rather than grainy pictures, we can get up close and personal and take a look at these two guns to compare. Alright, so first and foremost, this gun is valued at over $30,000 at this point, I valued this about five years ago at 30,000. So you can see the grip screw goes the opposite direction. You also see this is a 60 degree and the replica is a 60 degree.

This was made in about 1938, Hitler's gun was actually made before that, but probably engraved around the same time 1938. The deep engraving is pretty interesting. You can see the detail. Well again, let's just look at this rear tang, just the level of detail there. And then the safety, look at the detail inside the safety. Now, this of course has a different logo. Look at the frame just under the mag release button. This is oak leaf and acorn, which is the most common by far you've seen that before. That's the most common, oak leaf and acorn. 

Unique engraving on Hitler's Gun

But Hitler's gun actually did have a very unique engraving. If I look at the picture, it's not oak leaf, an acorn, it's not even the typical floral. It's something very unique for Adolf Hitler. So I think it was handcrafted just for him. Another thing is you can see this ivory how it has yellowed over the years, this ivory is still very much in the white, looks a lot newer. Let's look at the front grip strap. And you can see right away the level of detail is completely different, let alone under the frame and under the slide. It's just incredible. The level of detail on a $30,000 gun versus a replica that's about half that.

Way more detail on the Factory Original Gun

Let's take a look at the bottom of the magazine. See the differences there. So much more detail on the factory original gun. This by the way falls in the 215 range, 215 serial number. The serial number on this one is actually 700,000, it's actually written right here. There's where the serial number is. I believe on Hitler's gun is not serial numbered there but instead, it's under the grip.

So if you take the grip off, it'll be on the frame, under the grip. And they did that just to not deface the gun. But they very wisely chose a serial number again, PPs started at 750,000. So they just went back in time a little bit. Probably these were free serial numbers. So they decided to use them, free meaning no other PP has that serial number on it. And then the other side. So the things to look at would be like the ejection port, there's an attempt at a crown N I believe in there. Yeah, I think that's an attempt at a crown N, here is an eagle N. 

The Differences in the front and rear Sights

So even though this gun was manufactured in 1938, the eagle N indicates that the engraving was done in 1940. At the time I did this video, I said, since this was so deeply engraved and so ornate, this went to a very high ranking Nazi official, but not Adolf Hitler. And so just to finish it off, you can kind of see the rest of the gun. Oh, one other comparison. I said before that I believe he used the modern PP as a sample, well, here you go, the red dot is built into the front sight and on the 1938 guns, that red dot not only wouldn't be there, but it's a different design on the front sight. And then the rear sight even more, so you can see this is a postwar rear sight, and this is a 1938 rear sight.

All-in-all, a good Replica

So you can see the differences. So he used as a model, or the company, actually, the company would have used a modern PP as a model to make this gun, and then the engraver, just use the photographs to actually engrave the gun. I think he did a very good job. 

There are 4 other replicas out There

But let's talk about how I'm going to get my money back. So a little bit of a wrap up on this gun. And again, I'm so excited to bring you this I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do. I'm going to hold on to this and just stare at it for quite a while. But there, there are four more out there. I never knew that these guns were out there. I searched the internet, I couldn't find one for sale.

I was trying to find somebody who sold one and how much. Like what's the value of this gun? I couldn't find another one anywhere. So they are out there. If you know of another one of these replicas, let me know. If you want to do it privately, just contact me privately. And of course, if you have the original, contact me guarantee I can double your money. 

Replica for Rent!

Now for my idea. Now I say this a little bit in jest, I thought it was a funny joke. But the more I thought about it, I think maybe this is not a bad idea. Because this is not an original

Nazi-era engraved gun. I just wanted to see it and hold it and show it to all my friends. And if you're like me, you want to do the same thing. So I don't mind letting other people take a look at this or what I'm thinking again, maybe this is a stupid idea. But maybe we rent it by the month. If you want to own this for a month, you pay like $500 a month just to rent this gun. And you can have all your friends -- Oh, you can't ruin it, wear white gloves.

You have your friends over and say I have Hitler's gun, you're having a dinner party, you're going to a wedding, you're going to see all your family and friends you pull this out and say look, and I have Hitler's gun, you will be the talk of the town. Now you also might be arrested, especially if you're in England, but you will be the talk of the town. But I think just having this for a little bit of period of time and sharing it with all of you, I think that would be great. So let me know what you think about my idea. I figure after about two years. I'll get all my money back and I'll still own the gun. What do you think? 

Stay Tuned!
Hey, thanks for watching. Make sure you like and subscribe to our channel because we have a lot of fun videos coming your way.