Perhaps the most historically important gun to reach the market is offered for sale at Raab: A magnificent and ornately engraved long gun, given to U.S. Secretary of Defense Neil McElroy by Premier Nikita Khrushchev on the first visit of any Soviet leader to the US, meant to convey to the US the Russian desire that “The firearms used in the future by our two countries need be no longer than this shotgun for the preservation of world peace.”

Learn more: https://bit.ly/3qUMYpd

This gun has never before been offered for sale and was not known to have survived. Gifts of state are themselves rare, as since an Act of Congress in 1978, they have belonged to the nation and not the recipient.

In September 1959, the Soviet Premier, Nikita S. Khrushchev, visited the United States for about two weeks. This was the first visit by a Soviet head of state to America and was seen as a momentous occasion, absolutely dominating the news at the time. Khrushchev’s fundamental purpose in making the trip was to gain a better understanding of what America was, and to promote mutual understanding between the Soviet Union and the United States on matters of importance to both.

On his trip, Khrushchev wanted to talk about politics with President Dwight Eisenhower and his senior officials, such as Secretary of Defense Neil McElroy: the need for a peace treaty between East Germany and the United States, the mutual advantages that would result from the establishment of trade relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, and most importantly, the necessity of complete and universal disarmament. Even though the U-2 spy-plane incident in May 1960, and Berlin Wall and Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 were setbacks, the ultimate success of Khrushchev’s trip the United States in 1959 was increased interaction, a lessening of tensions, the 1962 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and a better comprehension of both nations’ core Cold War positions, which was a major reason that the Cold War did not turn hot.

When the Russians came to US for this important visit, they brought to the Secretary of Defense a long gun designed for him, made in Izhevsk by master engraver Lekomtsev. The metal and wood, extensively engraved, double barrel hammerless shotgun is in pristine condition. It is a IZH 57 (for Izhevsky and the year it was designed).