In Bloomberg this AM. I did not recognize the name Gordon Gekko.
Gordon Gekko’s Favorite Handgun May Fetch $1 Million at Auction
Share Business ExchangeTwitterFacebook| Email | Print | A A A By Lindsay Pollock
March 11 (Bloomberg) -- A rare .45-caliber 1907 Luger handgun, once bought for $150, may sell for as much as $1 million at a March 14 auction in Anaheim, California.
The German manufacturer tried unsuccessfully to sell the pistol to the U.S. military, according to Greg Martin, whose auction company will conduct the sale. Martin said only three of the 1907 models were produced and just two survive, including one at a museum in Shreveport, Louisiana.
In the 1987 film “Wall Street,” greedy investor Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas, brags that a .45-caliber Luger is “the rarest gun in the world.” The one he shows off in the movie is a prop, Martin said.
Lugers were used by the German army in World War I and World War II, but they were 9 mm rather than .45-caliber.
A typical military-style Luger sells for $1,500 to $2,500, Martin said. Rare guns from other manufacturers have sold for up to $1.5 million at auction, and between $3 million and $6 million on the private market, he said.
The 1907 Luger up for auction was once owned by collector Sidney Aberman, who paid $150 for it in 1949, according to Martin. Indonesian billionaire Yani Haryanto paid $1 million for it in 1989, causing the gun to be dubbed the ‘Million Dollar Luger.”
Bowie Knife
The current seller’s identity is unknown, Martin said, because it was consigned through an agent.
“It’s had a mystique,” he said. “The mystique is about the $1 million dollars and the hands it’s passed through quietly.”
The gun is among 893 lots for sale at the auction. An 8- inch long Bowie knife, circa 1830, is estimated to sell for up to $125,000. The intricate design includes a checkered ebony grip, studded with tiny silver pins.
The sale includes samurai garb, 17th- and 18th-century powder flasks, sporting rifles, swords and items connected to the history of warfare.
Greg Martin Auctions holds three or four sales a year, grossing $15 million to $20 million.
