Patton’s famous jab at pearl-handled pistols started an argument collectors are still having. This guide covers the history behind ivory, pearl, stag and early plastic grips, how to tell real from imitation, and the legal homework that now comes with buying or selling them.
Factory cutaway guns were built in batches of a few dozen to teach armorers and sell hardware, and most were destroyed when the job was done. This article traces where cutaways and display firearms came from and explains why the survivors often cost more than the working guns they were built to demonstrate.
In 1907 a .45 caliber Luger ran through U.S. Army trials at Springfield Armory, then vanished, while its surviving sibling later sold for $494,500 as collectors argued over whether it was ever at the tests. That unfinished quality is the whole draw of prototype and pre-series guns, and this guide sorts out the terms, the provenance problems, the legal flags, and the prices real examples have brought.
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