Hello John the serial number is 8966 V. Thank u for any info.

Pic of serial number

Thanks,

Is there a proof on the side of the breech block? If so what is it??

It appears that there is a lazy Crown U on the left side of the receiver above the SN. Can you confirm.

Any other proofs that you can see??

John

yes its 2 crowns above a U, the first crown looks like kind of a pentagon with a cross above it, then a regular crown then the U, it is above the serial number on the right side, also by the ejector and i know it is somewhere else just cant remember, there are no other types of proof marks eg like police ect...

i meant the left side sorry

proof mark

Thanks for the additonal information.

1. Please look at the FRONT of the front sight. Specifically the base of the sight. Do you see a proof there??

2. Also, look over the pistol carefully and see whether you can find the letter "S" stamped anywhere.

We're getting there.

Thanks,

John

markings
 

hi John, thank you for taking the time and helping me out. the Front sight is marked with exact same marking a double crown over a U. its s a dorsal fin shaped front sight and the rear sight is a v. i stripped the gun completely down could not find a S anywhere I did find another strange symbol though, its not an east German star-burst i think its a heat treat type symbol don't know. I found out the fire pin is marked correctly and the ejector is marked Glaten (spelling) below is a pic of the symbol

Raymond,

First, congratulations on having a fine Mauser Banner Commercial pistol made in 1939 as part of the v-block series.

The v-suffix was used over a number of years spanning from the early changeover days from DWM until 1939. Thus your pistol is one of the last v-suffix guns.

The v-block contained about 8700 pistols, of which about 3200 were Commercials. The balance were Police or Foreign contracts.

A couple of words abouts some of the stampings you have reported.

The Crown U seen in several places on the pistol is a Proof mark. It is called the Oberndorf Proof House mark. A large version was used in early production and a smaller version was used later on until it was replaced in 1940 by the Eagle proof stamp.

The mark on the toggle link and sometimes found on the Receiver and looks like an intertwined W and R is the Werks Revision (Factory Control) stamp. There will other internal markings dealing with factory inspections or identifying the assembler of the component scattered on the pieces.

Your side plate is stamped with the number 90. This the the first two digits of the serial number plus. 89 plus 1 equals 90.

Grip plates are properly numbered with the last two digits of the SN as are most small parts

Small parts are blued as is correct; although there are exceptions in the late V-block that have been observed with strawed parts.

Of some interest, is the fact that your Banner is the so-called Banner 5, i.e it has 5 bars in the Mauser logo. I say that it is of some interest because at SN 8900, there was a transition from 5 bar to 7 bar and I, personally, have never seen a 5 bar Banner above SN 8800 or so. FYI, there were 3 Mauser designs with 8, 5 and 7 bars respectively.

Your variation of the v-block Banner has been rarely reported in collections. Don Hallock spent years gathering data for a Database of Commercial production and usage. In the process of gathering data he deduced that the survival rate of guns varied between say 3 and 5 percent.

In the latest series of production, i.e 8900 and above only about 1 percent are reported. This leads some collectors to believe and production stopped on the v-block and many of these pistols supposed in the last thousand were never produced. In any case, your banner with that high a serial number in the v-block is somewhat rarely seen. As far as I know only a few over 8900 are on record. But others may comments as to their experience.

In any case the v-block was replaced by the w-block shortly after your gun was produced. But the w-block is another story.


Hope this helps. Apologies for being so verbose.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

John

John thank you so much for the info, it's a gun that I'm going to keep for a long time, it sounds pretty rare. I just took it to a local gun show to get some info, one guy offered me $1000 for it I said he was way way off and I had zero interest in selling it. Just an example of some dealers trying to get something for nothing. Do you think I should have the grips reworked?

Raymond,

You are most welcome.

I agree that the pistol is worth more than $1000. It is a nice representative Mauser Banner Commercial.

The grips are correct and their wear is consistent with the rest of the pistol. That's a reason for not doing anything.

Secondly and this is just me and how I treat collecting. I never, as a matter of policy do anything to "improve" a gun beyond normal cleaning and maintenance. So, I clean and put preservative on grips but I would NEVER have them re-checkered for example.

First, the wear is part of the gun and its history. Second, why would you have "perfectly checkered" grips on a gun that clearly has been used. Red Flag to a knowledgeable collector.

Thirdly, and this is just my humble opinion, brand new grips grips on an otherwise used gun would be a red flag to me that someone was playing games, and to me that is a reason to walk away.

But that's just me. Other collectors are more aggressive but still stay within the bounds of honest descriptions. Unfortunately, some collector/dealers strive to improve their guns and unfortunately bring our hobby in dis-repute as it is no longer a hobby but a business to them. And there are always the collectors that simply must have the perfect/pristine example and will do anything to make that happen.

But I am perambulating.

Enjoy your gun.

John

Thank you, I agree and I will keep it the way it is, now I need to find a holster and a take down tool.

Raymond,

A favor please. Can you get me a photo of the bottom of the barrel??

Thanks,

John

Sure so you mean where the serial is stamped.

Yes. Is there anything but the SN stamped there??

John

I don't think so ill look when I get home this is a photo I took with my phone the other day.

I just looked and its just the serial number.

John is there any significance of it not having a serial number?

I mean suffix. Sorry

No, the SN without suffix is normal for this SN in the V-block.

John