It looks like a pipe. And that's the idea.

What appears to be a gentleman's smoking device actually houses a deadly WWII weapon known as an assassination dagger.

Designed to kill enemy guards or inflict damage on vehicles

It was issued by the Special Operations Executive (SOE), Britain's top-secret department which aided resistance operations and carried out sabotage on Axis vehicles and property.

This pipe was designed for use by a resistance fighter or an SOE secret agent to kill a guard or disable a vehicle.

It sold yesterday for £1,800 ($2,340) at C & T Auctioneers in Kent, UK – more than double its estimate.

C&T Auctioneers' Mathew Tredwin told the Mail Online: “Some of these weapons are quite chilling when you look at them now but they give you an immediacy of a kill or be killed scenario many of these agents would have faced…

"It was incredibly dangerous. If you were caught that was it, you would be executed.

“These stealth weapons are few and far between. Once they were used by the secret agents they were often disposed of.

“They are very popular because of their rarity and the romanticism surrounding the secret service. Everyone wants to be James Bond.”

Also selling was an SOE "biscuit tin" radio transmitter. They were so called because they were often secreted inside biscuit tins, although this example was housed in a suitcase.

The suitcase saw action in Belgium during the second world war

It was used in Belgium during the second world war – although the precise details of the mission are unknown.

It made £1,900 ($2,470).

We have this signed photo from Britain's wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill, for sale.

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