According to legend, these pistols were designed by Louis Marquis, an engineer who originally conceived the item while interred in a World War I POW camp. Reportedly approached by representatives of SS Chief Heinrich Himmler in 1943, the design was refined for use by SS Men to evade capture; the man would reach for the buckle as though to surrender his gun belt, and then shoot his would-be captor in the gut. Though an overly specialized and fanciful device, the history of military and espionage weapons is replete with fist guns, knife guns, hat guns, phone guns, and other combinations and concepts as wild and wooly as this one. Steel construction overall, with a hinged Nazi eagle decorated cover that conceals the pop-up barrel cluster, with individual firing switches, a pair of claw hooks to keep the barrel closed, and a spring detent to hold the barrel open. The serial number "4" is present on several parts, and "BLN-44-SS/RVFZ NR:4" on the underside.