Pete,
I have posted this earlier on the forum, but the story as related by the late Pat Redmond begins with the pistol being offered to Carl Wilson (who owned the Baby featured in Shooting Times) for either $4000 or $5000 (my memory slips me here). The pistol supposedly came out of Canada, and when Mr. Wilson met the owner at the airport to finalize the deal, the pistol had gone up $1000. On principal, Mr. Wilson turned the pistol down as he thought the price had been agreed upon between the buyer and the seller. Harry Jones then bought the pistol and sold it to Mr. Norton of Shreveport, Louisiana for a reported $10,000. Carl Wilson later admitted that turning down the .45 Luger was one of the worse decisions of his Luger collecting career.
The Norton .45 Luger is on public display at the Norton Gallery, and if you are ever in the vicinity of Shreveport you should make the trip to see the impressive pistol. There is absolutely no doubt as to it's authenticity.
In Shreveport there was a wrestler turned engraver by the name of Prudhomme. Mr. Norton admired his work and had several of his pistols engraved by Mr. Prudhomme. One of the pistols engraved is a Borchardt. It is a wonder that Mr. Norton did not have the big Luger engraved, as to him it was just another pistol.
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