The Simerling Derringer: History, Value & Significance

Question
The main character in my PI novel  has received a 32 caliber Simerling derringer with a scrimshaw handle as a gift. I heard of this gun on Law and Order as a collectible and a woman's gun. What is its history? Is it old, rare, valuable? I need to add some description to the book.

Thanks so much.  

Answer
Ana,

Semmerling pistols aren't terribly old but they're quite uncommon and can be very valuable. They're very tiny but are built more like automatic pistols than derringers. They feed from a magazine that is inserted into the grip as with a typical semi-auto and that magazine holds four rounds. While they look and load like automatics, they are in fact manually operated, meaning the slide must be retracted after every shot to eject the spent case and load a new one into the pipe. They were in production until the early 80's and production numbers were quite small, which drove up the price to as much as $4,000 for some models.

More recently, American Derringer acquired the rights to the pistol and is manufacturing it in .45 ACP. under the name LM4 Semmering. For some specs on the new Semmerling, visit: http://www.kracik.com/me/w_semmerling.html

Hopefully I've been helpful, if you've any other questions, please feel free to ask.

Kyle