Japanese Mum Luger

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by DonVoigt

Ok,
someone come up with a reasonable guess or even unreasonable explanation as to why the "Japanese Forces" would mark a luger with a Mum, when they "never" marked their own pistols with a mum?

It needn't be the "Japanese Forces"; it could have been an officer/NCO who had to buy his own sidearm and chose a captured Luger and had the Mum engraved to honor the emperor.

Lots of explanations.

[George Anderson]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

It needn't be the "Japanese Forces"; it could have been an officer/NCO who had to buy his own sidearm and chose a captured Luger and had the Mum engraved to honor the emperor.

Lots of explanations.

The pistol is dated 1940. The Japs and Germans were not fighting one another in 1940 or thereafter. They became allies in 1941.

Years ago Doug Smith was asked to go through the shop of a recently deceased Luger "mechanic" near Cincinnati. Among the fellow's stuff, Doug found a Mum die as well as a Spandau die.

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by George Anderson

Years ago Doug Smith was asked to go through the shop of a recently deceased Luger "mechanic" near Cincinnati. Among the fellows stuff, Doug found a Mum die as well as a Spandau die.

Used to copy the originals, no doubt. The point is, to copy something, there has to be an original to copy...

[Norme]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

Used to copy the originals, no doubt. The point is, to copy something, there has to be an original to copy...

Yes Rich, but that doesn't mean the original was a Luger. Would you still think the same if Lugers showed up with JEEP and Louis Vuiton logos?
Norm

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by Norme

Yes Rich, but that doesn't mean the original was a Luger. Would you still think the same if Lugers showed up with JEEP and Louis Vuiton logos?
Norm

If Louis commissioned the engraving, it would be an original.

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by George Anderson

The pistol is dated 1940. The Japs and Germans were not fighting one another in 1940 or thereafter. They became allies in 1941.

The Japanese did invade the Dutch East Indies in 1942 and captured a number of Dutch Lugers.

Datig quotes a report that some 3,000 KNIL Lugers were captured by the Japanese in 'about 1942', and that 'certain of these captured Lugers found their way to the Japanese homeland, where they had some Japanese characters added to them'.

I know it is popular these days to sneer at Datig, Kenyon, and Jones, but they published pictures of Lugers with Mum, Totenkopf, and crossed rifles long before latter-day experts declared them all to be 'fakes'.

It is my habit, when there is doubt, to believe pictures.