Prototype SIG Sauer P226 Vanity - By Vivian Mueller

This one is rarer than almost anything the Eckernförde shop ever let out the door. The accompanying factory letter, signed by the Head of Sales, confirms the P226 Vanity was built in a run of just six guns worldwide, and the engraved frame on this example carries the marking that identifies it as the first specimen of the series.

The finish is the first thing you notice. SIG polished the steel and ran it through a PVD process that throws a deep blue, almost liquid sheen across the slide and frame. Tilt it under light and the tone shifts from midnight to a brighter cobalt at the high edges. The slide top and the dust cover of the frame are hand-engraved with flowing scrollwork, and the gold inlay does the talking. The Vanity script along the slide, the J.P. Sauer & Sohn GmbH address on the frame, the trigger outline traced in gold wire, the screws and the sights all rendered in warm metal against the blue.

The grips break from the usual SIG look entirely. They wear an ivory-tone finish held by gold screws, a sharp contrast against the darkened steel that suits a gun built to be looked at as much as carried. Worth noting: the slide shows honest wear through the PVD on the cocking serrations and the muzzle, exposing the bright metal underneath. On a six-gun run, that handling history is part of the record.

This grew out of SIG's cooperation with Swiss silversmith Vivian Mueller of Mueller Murgenthal, conceived as a follow-up to the celebrated P210 700 Years CH Helvetica. The broader run was planned but never materialized. It comes with the SIG Sauer Mastershop certificate, the signed factory letter, and its case. For a collector chasing the deep end of SIG provenance, there are not many of these to chase.