This is a beautiful example of a rare factory engraved, gold plated presentation Walther PP semi-automatic pistol with raised relief, engraved, inlayed "GH" monogram initials inset into the factory ivory grips. A near identical pair of grips on a very similar Model PP can be seen on pages 14-15 of Rankin's "Walther Volume II", attributed to Nazi Police Chief Helmut Gommlich, and the same pistol again on page 97 of Kersten's "Walther: Fine deutsche Legende" attributed as a Hermann Goering piece. "GH" has not been positively identified, though the ranks of the Nazi Party provide two notable candidates. The first, Gottlieb Hering was a Hauptsturmfuehrer (Captain) in the SS-Totenkopfverbande; a policeman turned decorated World War I machine gunner, Gommlich was originally an enemy of the Party, reportedly dubbed a "Nazi-eater" by the brownshirts of the SA due to his crackdowns on their actions. Finally joining the Party after the 1933 rise to power, Hering became involved with some of the dirtiest business of wartime Germany, participating in the resettlement of German people into occupied territory, "Aktion T4" (the involuntary euthanasia program), as well as managing the Belzec extermination camp as part of "Operation Reinhardt" and the Poniatowa concentration camp. He would die in October of 1945 in a hospital waiting room in Baden-Wurttemberg. The other candidate of note is Gebhard Ludwig Himmler, SS-Standartenfuehrer, mechanical engineer, and elder brother of notorious SS Chief Heinrich Himmler. A World War I officer cadet and veteran of the Battle of Chateau-Thierry, Gebhard was a Weimar Era member of the "Black Reichswehr" under von Epp as well as the "Bund Reichskriegsflagge" of Ernst Rohm, participating in Hitler's botched "Beer Hall Putsch" as a member of the latter. While invested in right wing politics, Gebhard didn't join his brother as a Nazi formally until after 1933, "borrowing" his wife's lower party number to avoid looking like an opportunist. As a party member he held high ranks in the National Socialist Teacher's League, the Nazi Federation for German Technology and the Head Officer for Technology. Recalled to the military in 1939, he participated in the Invasion of Poland, and later acted as inspector for schools for the Waffen-SS. Surviving the war, Gebhard was de-Nazified and returned to civilian work. Either one of these men was of sufficient rank and importance to merit such a presentation or private purchase item, with Himmler being in a particularly noteworthy position to be gifted such a weapon by one of the many big wheels of the Third Reich. This beautiful pistol has 99% of the traditional Germanic oak leaf and acorn pattern engraving, over all the metal surfaces that was then gold washed/plated over the entire surface. It has the standard Walther two line factory markings that consist of "Walther" inside a banner next to "Waffenfabrik Walther, Zella-Mehlis (Thur)/Walther's Patent Cal 7,65 m/m" next to "Mod. PP", along with Nazi "eagle/N" proofs on the slide and muzzle. As noted the grips are ivory with the left side having an approximately 1 inch silver oval inlayed in the grip that has a geometric border with a punch dot back ground with the large initials "GH" engraved in an old Germanic Script in the center, with "G,H" also marked in pencil on the interior, and the right panel bears an exceptional gold washed Nazi Eagle measuring just over an inch wide. It is complete with an original Walther marked PP magazine that also has the gold washed finish and matching engraving on the floorplate.

Very fine with all the original and exceptionally high condition factory engraving showing 25% of the original gold finish remaining overall on the exterior of the pistol mostly in the protected areas, with much of the gold wash remaining on the inside of the frame, slide and various parts. The factory grips are very fine with an attractive, original aged yellowed appearance and a thin crack on the right panel. Mechanically excellent. A top rate demonstration of deeply cut traditional Germanic "oak leaf" engraving, which may benefit immensely from deeper research.