Elvis Presley was a gun enthusiast and one of the guns he had was a diminutive 22lr derringer which he gave to his wife Priscilla to keep in her handbag for self-protection. Priscilla was not comfortable carrying the little gun and so she gave it back to Elvis.
From there the derringer finished up in the hands of an Elvis memorabilia collector named Tom Salva.
Fast Facts
- Elvis Presley was a gun enthusiast, known for having good taste in guns.
- Elvis was also generous with guns and he is known to have given guns to people he respected and liked.
- One of the guns he acquired was a small German made derringer which he gave to his wife Priscilla.
- This derringer was a single shot chambered for the 22lr cartridge.
- Priscilla was not comfortable carrying the pistol and so Elvis gave it to Charlie Hadge who subsequently sold it to Mike Moon to display in his Elvis Museum located in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
- This little piece of Elvis memorabilia is currently for sale by Julien’s Auctions.
Elvis Presley was a gun enthusiast who exhibited good taste in many of his custom firearm acquisitions.
One of those he cared about very much was his wife Priscilla, and being in the United States, a basic item to have for someone to be able to defend themselves was a pistol.
For Priscilla, Elvis acquired a diminutive single shot derringer for Priscilla to keep in her handbag or purse just in case someone nasty decided to assault her.
When considering this we will of course remember that during the 1960’s no-one had a mobile phone, so if you were attacked there was no way to call for police assistance unless you could get to a land-line telephone either at home or at a public telephone.
Mind you in this modern day and age when almost everyone has a mobile phone we might think that one could just phone the police if you were attacked – but how could you make a phone call while someone was attacking you?
As it turned out Priscilla was not comfortable having the little derringer in her handbag and did not want to carry it, so Elvis gave the cute little gun to Charlie Hadge who subsequently sold it to Mike Moon to display in his Elvis Museum located in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
The little derringer was acquired by Elvis memorabilia collector Tom Salva in the late 1970’s.
Tom Salva’s letter concerning the derringer is below.
This Presley derringer is of a type that were commonly imported into the United States from Germany. These guns often carry no maker’s name although some did, including those made by Reck, which later became re-branded as Umarex.
These little guns can be found in various small calibers up to 38 Special, but are often chambered for the 22lr.
This Presley derringer is a single shot simply marked “GERMANY” under the barrel with what looks to be a German proof mark. Under the action are three marks including one containing the number “62” which quite possibly refers to the year of manufacture – i.e. 1962, and another that looks to be a German proof mark like the one on the barrel.
The pistol carries the serial number “51496” on both the action and the barrel.
The barrel is steel while the derringer frame is brass.
There is some damage to the underside of the grip but otherwise the gun looks to be in reasonable condition.
Picture Credits: All pictures courtesy Julian’s Auctions
Jon Branch is the founder and senior editor of Revivaler and has written a significant number of articles for various publications including official Buying Guides for eBay, classic car articles for Hagerty, magazine articles for both the Australian Shooters Journal and the Australian Shooter, and he’s a long time contributor to Silodrome.
Jon has done radio, television, magazine and newspaper interviews on various issues, and has traveled extensively, having lived in Britain, Australia, China and Hong Kong. His travels have taken him to Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan and a number of other countries. He has studied the Japanese sword arts and has a long history of involvement in the shooting sports, which has included authoring submissions to government on various firearms related issues and assisting in the design and establishment of shooting ranges.
