Deactivated WW1 & WW2 PO8 Luger with Provenance

Possibly the only one of its type! This rare German PO8 Luger is somewhat of an enigma both in terms of its markings and lack of markings. The pistol was made in 1918 as an artillery Luger, the notch in the receiver above the 1918 date stamp is where the artillery Luger rear sight sits, a feature only found on this model of Luger. The proof markings are also very unusual. We can't find any that closely match this format. The RC over Crown are the factory reworking marks of the Erfurt Arsenal. Below them appear to be the WW1 German military acceptance stamp - Crown over gothic letters. The two crowns to the right would normally have their corresponding gothic acceptance proofs below them but dont! The trigger guard also has another unsual mark. This looks to be a capital R that has been over stamped on the previous marking?  The pistol is void of numbered parts which is often seen on commercially sold or privately purchased Lugers. 

Now this is where it gets really interesting. The pistol comes with a letter from the previous owner explaining its history and how came into his families ownership. This pistol was the personal sidearm of the Austrian Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Vienna, Austria who surrendered it in 1945 to a serving member of the British armed forces working as a war correspondent for the Times. "Gauleiter " means a political official governing a district under Nazi rule and "Reichsstatthalter" was a Nazi official appointed to govern a state in Germany during the Third Reich. This position was held by Baldur von Schirach from 1943 to 1945, a fanatical member of the Nazi party and founder member of the "Hitler Jugend" (Hitler Youth) who was largely responsible for the militarisation of the organisation. Upon the fall of the 3rd Reich, Schiarch surrendered to American Forces and following his hearing at the Nuremburg Trials was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in Spandau Prison, Berlin, avoiding what he assumed to be certain death sentence.

The pistol was brought back to London and in the 1950s handed to William Pidgeon who was working as a type setter for the Times. He then gave it to his son Ronald in 1960s as gift, who founded a gun club in Carlisle where he used to shoot this pistol. In the late 1960s he then gifted it to his brother Peter, as Ronald was posted abroad whilst serving with 23 Sqn RAF as an armourer. The pistol was deactivated in 1997 when handguns were banned. We have the original deactivation certificated which verifies this.

Prior to is deactivation in 1997, this Luger was shot regularly having hunderds of rounds put through and never jamming or misfiring according to the nephew of Peter who used to shot it.

*******PRICE TO BE CONFIRMED SHORTLY******