Video: Mountbatten’s pen gun lives on in Leeds
A GOLD-PLATED pistol-pen owned by Earl Mountbatten of Burma has been purchased by the Royal Armouries in Leeds.
The spy-style weapon, complete with a concealed trigger but resembling a pen or pencil, was designed and made by the Maharaja Hanwant Singh of Marwar-Jodhpur and presented in 1948 to the earl, who was the last Viceroy of India. The 7in, .22 pistol, tucks neatly into a jacket pocket and can be completely concealed. It passed into private ownership but was bought last week by the Royal Armouries at auction for £13,000.
Senior curator of firearms Mark Murray Flutter, pictured, described it as an “aesthetically and technically interesting piece” and the museum was please to secure an object “so closely associated with one of the country’s most charismatic figures”.
Picture: Simon Hulme.