Sold for $75,000 (£42,370) was the only known example of a prototype Mauser model 1909-1912/1914 automatic pistol chambered in a calibre .45. This experimental pistol was manufactured by Wafenfabrik Mauser prior to WWI as a response to the adoption of the .45 calibre Model 1911 pistol by the US Army, but development of the design was apparently terminated shortly after the outbreak of the war in 1914.
The only known example of the Mauser Model HSv pistol was sold at $60,000 (£33,900). Designed in response to a Wehrmacht request for the submission of a design for a replacement for the Luger 1934, the HSv is a 9mm, double-action, short recoil pistol with an eight round magazine capacity.
Sold for $42,500 (£24,010), an apparently unique Walther prototype "Hi-Power" 9mm semi-automatic pistol, apparently designed in the latter years of WWII as a possible replacement for the Walther P38 pistol, is a double-action pistol with a de-cocking lever/safety catch located on the left side of the frame behind the trigger.
Prototype pistols lead $5.3m firearms sale
SPECIALIST firearms saleroom, Rock Island Auctions of Moline, Illinois, sold over 2800 lots for a total of $5.3m (£3m) in their April 17-19 event. Among the higher priced weapons were three prototype or experimental pistols by Mauser and Walther.
