I would return it. It is a put together Luger as stated. It will not have a value more than that. I would not pay more than $700 for a put together Luger, but I am cheap. You can find original examples as Marty noted.
John
I would return it. It is a put together Luger as stated. It will not have a value more than that. I would not pay more than $700 for a put together Luger, but I am cheap. You can find original examples as Marty noted.
John
Thanks for the info. So the main issue is with the code 42 being used on a 1940 dated byf? I'll use that as the argument as to why I'm returning the Luger, although all visible serial numbers match. Was this Luger meant to deceive?
I heard there is a list of serial numbers that was issued to the SS. Is there such?
If there were any records of that nature, they have not survived to the present day. There is no way of knowing for sure that a particular pistol was issued to the SS. Unless, of course, you were to obtain it directly from a veteran who liberated it from an SS man. While some K98 rifles were allegedly SS marked, there is no known authentic example of a pistol of any type being marked in such a way.
The serial numbers were most likely added after the pistol was reassembled from mismatching parts. When - or by whom - there's no way of knowing.
It's a case of buy the item, not the story. I suspect that the SS story was a ploy used to drive up the price tag, and given that you overpaid for it considerably, it worked. If it were me, I'd return it and hope that the person who sold it to you is honest enough to give you a full refund. Or, at least, they could return the difference in light of the pistol's true value.
But even if it is mismatched, it would still make a perfectly good shooting gun. And at the end of the day, it is still a Luger. Not a particularly valuable one as far as collectors are concerned, but a Luger all the same.
Regards, B.B.
Is the proof mark on the trigger guard ww1 era? It looks like a crown?
It's a typical East German rework as issued to the Volkspolizei. The frame was manufactured by Erfurt prior to 1919. The take-down lever appears to be from a commercial Luger. It's value is about $500 if it functions correctly.
Sure can be a minefield when it comes to Third Reich militaria as I am sure many of us here know. If worth a considerable sum of money you can bet it will be often faked or made up to fool the unsuspecting buyer.
For the sake of comparison, here's how an all-matching Third Reich-era Luger should look. This one is a Portuguese contract pistol, but is visually identical to a German-used example.
A point of note: The only full serial numbers are on the left side of the slide, the underside of the frame and the underside of the barrel. On all other parts, especially the smaller ones, the number is abbreviated to the last two digits.
Regards, B.B.
Hello B.B.
Not being to picky here I hope but what you mentioned about serial number placement is only true if you have a no suffix serial.
The vast majority of P08s will have a suffix. So the only place you will see the full serial is on the frame just above the trigger guard.
Jonathan.
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