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LOT 1313
Historic Presentation Engraved and Gold Plated P.08 Luger Semi-Automatic
Pistol Given to the Ambassador Franz von Papen by Foreign Minister of
the Reich Joachim von Ribbentrop with Mauser Factory Consultant Letter -
Serial no. 1800w, 9 mm Luger cal., 4 inch round bbl., gold plated finish, relief carved
walnut grips. This is an exceptional example of a one-of-a-kind World War II German
engraved and gold plated P.08 Luger pistol. This pistol was owned and presented by two
prominent Nazi party members with long time association or affiliations with Adolf Hitler and
his rise to power in the early 1930s. Joachim von Ribbentrop was the son of a German Army
officer who was born in Wesel, Germany in 1893. He served in WWI with the 125th Hussar
Regiment where he won the Iron Cross. After being seriously wounded in 1917, Ribbentrop
joined the Germany War Ministry and became a member of the German Delegation that attended the Paris Peace Conference after WWI. In May 1932, he joined the NSDAP, National Socialist German Workers Party, where he quickly rose in rank and eventually became Hitler’s foreign affairs advisor in 1933. He was eventually appointed as the ambassador to London. He was instrumental in the various pre-war negotiations with France and Great Britain and was also instrumental in the negotiations and signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a treaty of non-aggression signed in 1939 between the Soviet Union and Germany that kept the Soviets at bay until the Germans broke the agreement in June of 1941. In June 1945, he was arrested and charged with war crimes but denied any knowledge or involvement in the German concentration camps and racial extermination policies. He was later tried during the Nuremburg Trials, found guilty, and executed in October 1946. He was the first to
be hanged. Franz von Papen was born in Werl, Germany in 1879, the son of a wealthy landowner. In 1914, he was posted to Washington as a military attaché; however, in 1915, he was accused of being
a saboteur and was forced to leave the U.S. He joined the German Army and served as a general staff officer at the outbreak of WWI. After WWI, he joined the Catholic Centre Party (BVP) and in 1921 was elected to the Reichstag. Two years later, he purchased a controlling interest in the leading newspaper “Germania.” He attempted to use the paper as means to promote his right-wing policies and was later ousted. He remained a low level political figure until May 1932 when he was appointed as chancellor by Hindenburg. Later, he lifted the ban on the Sturm Abteilung (SA) and gained considerable support from the Nazi Party. Then von Papen persuaded Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as the new chancellor and became the vice-chancellor. After supporting Hitler after the Night of the Long Knives, he was appointed as ambassador to Austria in 1934-1939 with an additional posting to Turkey in 1939-1944. In 1945, he was charged with conspiring to start WWII but was found not guilty. In 1947, the German Government charged him with crimes and offences while Hitler was in power, and he was sentenced to eight years in prison. He served only two and was released in 1949. He died in 1969 in Obersasbach.
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