An engraved Sphinx SDP Standard Inox pre-series presentation prototype in 9mm, built for the Jordanian Intelligence Service. The slide carries the engraved emblem of the service and full Arabic ornamental engraving across the stainless frame and slide.
Most engraved pistols are commercial dress-up jobs. This one is not. It's a pre-series presentation prototype Sphinx built for the Jordanian Intelligence Service, intended for presentation to King Abdullah II, and it carries the marks to prove it. The top of the slide wears the engraved emblem of the Jordanian Intelligence Service, crown and eagle inside a laurel wreath with Arabic script below. That single mark is what separates this from anything you'll find on a dealer's shelf.
The engraving covers the side surfaces of the slide and frame in flowing Arabic ornamental motifs. It's architectural work, symmetrical and disciplined, with banded borders framing dense floral scroll and tight geometric fill panels. The cuts follow the clean lines of the SDP rather than fighting them. Look closely at the front of the slide and you'll see the SDP STANDARD designation worked right into the pattern, with the Sphinx Made in Switzerland address engraved along the frame.
Underneath the artwork sits a serious pistol. Full stainless, all-steel construction in 9mm Parabellum, running the traditional SA/DA trigger with an ambidextrous decocking lever. Front and rear slide serrations give you a solid purchase, and a Picatinny rail is milled into the dust cover. The controls and magazine wear a contrasting blued finish that plays against the satin stainless, and the black polymer grip panels carry Kraton inserts and the Sphinx griffin.
Only two of these pre-series prototypes were produced during development. Both stayed in Switzerland as the reference standard for the final Jordanian order. The King's actual presentation guns came from the production run that followed. So this is the gun that defined the others, not one of the others. It ships in its Sphinx case with the owner's manual and factory cleaning tube. For a collector of state presentation arms, provenance like this almost never reaches the open market.
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