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Joe Canuck
Member
Since we're on a PPK or PP thread here, sure, lets see the pic.
My guess is that James Bond would have been issued with a commercial pistol, not one that'd mark him as an agent with a NATO-marked/proofed gun.
And I'm sure that the sophisticated Mr. Bond would have preferred the nicer box!
My guess there were a lot of us bitten by the "Bond; James Bond" bug growing up............ "hits like a brick through a glass window"
!
I get a kick out of the unmarked "clean" spy gun....concept.
Would think any ''commercial" gun would be GTG........ as long as it wasn't marked as "Property of the CIA"
Today all the novels use Glock 19s because they are made in Austria ...... personally I'd opt of a CZ 75 made behind the Iron Curtain!
That'd get you fried pretty quickly, unless you were posing as someone from a country where Commie guns were easily found.
Ian Fleming once asked his gun-savvy pal, Geoffrey Boothroyd, which guns a Russian agent in the West would have. My feeling is that he'd have something made here, in a NATO country. A Soviet gun would stand out and raise suspicions.
LOL..... I'm talking 2018 not 1958; Glocks, Beretta's, Sigs, CZs (and clones) and Makarov's are found all over the world these days.......... as "The Pilgrim" mentioned a Hi-power; an FN vs Browning(US Import) since WWII they are everywhere in the world.
I would think a "'sterile" gun without markings or serial #s would be a dead give away.
By the way a friend of mine was a Artillery Captain in Viet Nam..... said he carried a HP "off duty" and had a Swedish K.
Bond moved away from the PPK for a few year but the writers stuck to Walthers ....... IIRC a full size P99 played a role in two movies!
In the 90s Bond was armed with an ASP in at least a couple of the "new" books. Myself I'd have given him a 3914..... maybe an NL..... in the last couple of movies I've noted that he now carries (sometimes) his PPK IWB at 4 O'clock!
Yes indeed, NOW my box looks like yours.My box did not have the label on it, just the hand written serial number on it. Otherwise, it looks to be the same even though mine was for a PP.
This is fun, thanks for your original post and questions.
Jim
Notice the difference in the style of the numerals between the frame and slide? Perhaps a replacement for the original that was damaged beyond repair. Would like to see a picture of the other side of the slide.
Let‘s not get carried away with all the speculation.
As was already pointed out, the “eagle with drooping wings“ is a German Federal quality control mark and not found on either commercial or police-issued pistols. The box label looks like an original German label not related to any exporter.
In the 1960s, the West German army and air force purchased limited numbers of PPKs for military intelligence, personal protection details, and pilots. While I have no specific knowledge about serial ranges and circumstances, that would be the most obvious explanation for this gun.
As for manufacture, this PPK, as were all PP/PPK pistols until the mid-1980s, was manufactured at Manurhin/Mulhouse in France and shipped to Ulm/Germany for proofing and finishing. St.Etienne was a French proofhouse and has nothing to do with this gun, only with Manurhin-finished pistols. Like P1 pistols, the PPKs appear to have skipped the Ulm proofing and been federally tested instead.
PS: The number within the drooping wings was an inspector code. Police PPs/PPKs were not tested by this agency (the “Güteprüfdienst des Bundesverteidigungsministeriums“, if you want to really sound knowledgeable), but were commercial-proofed, so I do not believe this pistol could have been part of an official order by any foreign police department, unlike the above-mentioned British orders, which were military.
In response to the box/label question, I don’t recall that there was any evidence of a label. No glue residual that I remember, just the hand written serial number. It’s been almost 30 yrs since I found it in a True Value Hardware store for @$250.00, but I’ve seen the box since then. As I said it never meant anything to me but I saved it.
I do not want to sound like a braggart, (or a hoarding gun “nut”,) but I have so many factory boxes in so many larger boxes, that it would take a while for me to find this particular one. The more valuable Colt, Browning, HiStandard, S&W, etc ones I have stacked in a cabinet in my gun room. The others are just in boxes. I’ll try to find it and post some pictures though.
Jim