This is an exceptionally scarce example of a WWII Walther PPK pistol that was used by the guards at the secret "Thiel" factory at Muhlhausen. The Geratebau, GmbH factory was one of the largest watch makers in Germany prior to the start of WWII. Consequently after the start of the Nazi rearmament the Thiel factory became one of the primary maker of mechanical time fuses for artillery shells and explosive devices. Research has indicated that there was one primary factory at Ruhla with perhaps 2-3 sub factories that all produced timers/fuses for the Nazis during the war. The fuse is marked with the factory code "DLR" which is for the same factory where these Muhlhausen Thiel PPK's were assigned. The secret fuse factory at Muhlhausen used slave laborers from the Buchenwald subcamp, "Martha II" and that is where this pistol was originally issued to. It has been estimated that maybe upwards of 50-75 Walther PPKs were actually issued to the Thiel factory in total with probably not more that 20-30 issued to each different sub-factory to arm the plant guards. Of which today only a handful of original Thiel marked Walther pistol have actually been found. This ultra-rare PPK example as noted was actually issued to the "secret" Thiel factory at Muhlhausen which can be identified by the "M" prefix inventory number on the pistol and which the consignor states is "1 of 5" known to exist that were issued to that sub factory. It has the standard Walther factory slide markings and legends on the left side of the slide with the usual "Crown/N" proof marks on the right side of the frame, slide and barrel. The critical Thiel factory markings are located on the front grip strap which are, the Thiel factory logo (which is a clock pendulum) with the name "THIEL" inside a banner in the middle followed by "M.26". This rare pistol is also accompanied by an equally scarce original Thiel manufactured artillery fuse housing (the internal clock work mechanism has been removed). The outside of the base is marked: "Zt Zs/30 /dlr (the wartime code for the Thiel factory) 41". The fuse is housed in its original WWII brown plastic storage case, and an original silver soup spoon that is also marked with the original Thiel factory logo.

Very fine with 85% of the slightly faded original blue finish overall with clear markings on the front grip strap. The brown plastic grips are also in very fine condition with nice distinct checkering on both sides with minimal handling marks on the sides with some slight warpage on the lower front edges. The artillery fuse (housing) is in fine condition, and so is the silver spoon. A very nice all original groups of original Thiel factory item with the ultra-rare Thiel factory Walther PPK with the ultra rare "M" prefix number.