This last weekend I had the privilege of looking at a friend of mines 1915 Deaths head luger.
Studying lugers for 25 years and talking to some of the most Knowledgeable people in the luger collector world I know some were "faked" and some people say "they were never made". Well here is a ghost from the past. From a Schooled gunsmithing stand point, this is the real deal! No one can age engraving, bluing and polishing marks on the entire pistol that my microscope wouldn't detect.The barrel is stamped with the German Military Acceptance Stamp Adler and it is clear that the Death Head (Skull) was rolled onto the headspace above the date.
All my friend said was he "aquired it from a WWI vets family". The pistol is 69% in my opinion in condition. I have been researching it for 2 days and this is what I have come up with.
August von Mackensen; German field marshall. A type of irregular light horsemen were already well established by the 15th century in medieval Hungary. On the eve of World War I there were still Hussar regiments in the British (including Canadian), French, Spanish, German, Russian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Romanian and Austro-Hungarian armies. In most respects, they had now become regular light cavalry, recruited solely from their own countries and trained and equipped along the same lines as other classes of cavalry. Hussars were however still notable for their colorful and elaborate parade uniforms. The German Imperial units had adopted the Deathhead(Skull-Totenkopf) as their symbol and this is probably the origin of the German units.The "death's head" continued to be used throughout the Prussian and Brunswick Armed forces until 1918, and some of the storm troopers that led the last German offensives on the Western Front in 1918 used Death's Head badges. Some Flamethrower assault squads used the same symbols.
I wish I owned it, but I don't. Just thought I would share this rare luger with the rest of you on this forum. Thanks for looking.
John
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