Imperial proofs

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by SteveM

FWIW, all of the known Spandaus were at one location in the early 90's. I saw them at the NAPCA meeting in Midland-Odessa. They were all grouped together from what I remember but I wasn't around for any discussion, if there was any at all. There may have been a write up discussion in the Automag.

There are several Gunboards threads linked in this post referring to that 'meeting'...

http://forum.lugerforum.com/showthread.php?t=28887

It is interesting that the "Spandau" Lugers were displayed by dealers...i.e., for sale...And that the one 'Spandau' generally accepted as genuine was not there...

Anyway, for your consideration, is the one toggle I have [an Erfurt] with lettering...You can see that the letters have square ends rather than rounded ends...Rounded ends indicate a rotary engraving tool, rather than a fixed stamp or die...

(The 'slant' shows as well)

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by postino

...Rounded ends indicate a rotary engraving tool, rather than a fixed stamp or die...

To expound on this a bit, there was a magazine bottom stamp shown recently...The "3" is a good example of a sharp ended stamping, as opposed to a rounded ended engraving...

(Fred - The check will go toward more vintage magazine articles, already being scanned!)