Names engraved on Lugers
 

I've noticed several WW I Lugers on Internet sites that had a German name engraved on them. I've not seen that on Lugers from any other era. Was that common back then?

I have seen it on a couple of WW1 guns in pictures. I have also seen it on WW2 lugers, with US GI names. Most often (from my memory) on krieghoff and PX lugers post-war


It appears to me that many collectors do not look favorably on engraving such as this....

Matt,

Officers were required to purchase their own side arms. They would often have their name and sometimes rank engraved on the grip strap to differentiate them from regimental weapons.

George Anderson can give you much better details on this practice than I can.

Ron

I would sure like to see some photographs of such names engraved on WW1 era lugers. I don't think I've ever been fortunate to come across such engravings in my luger travels over the past 50 years.

Don't beleive I've seen any either in 50 years of collecting.

Here ya go. The age of the world wide web. This is one George is negotiating for now. I'll leave the rest to him. I recall another posted on Still's forum a couple of years ago.



http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/engraved_name.jpg

Ron, not to doubt you, but the one posted on Jan's forum, is this one a year ago (or so). I have seen this brought up before, there was an interesting posting by Ted Green 3 or 4 years ago, for an armorer marking, and a couple of others.

http://luger.gunboards.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8493

I am unsure if 3 to 4 engravings equals "common"....

Ron, that is one of the two or three I have seen recently. It sounds like they are not that common after all. I just wonder what impact this has on value. The other one I have seen is an artillery model that has a woman's name engraved on it.

Ed,

I didn't say they were common. I said "often" they would do this. Maybe I used the wrong word, but it is known to have been done.

Simply because someone has been collecting along time and hasn't seen it, doesn't mean that it wasn't done. It means they haven't seen one.

The esteemed Luger officianado Rhinehard Kornmeyer told Joop that pantograph machines weren't used in Germany until 1946, in a discussion they had about the Fieseler Guard Luger. So much for his expertise...

I am going on what I recall in the discussion about this practice in that posting. And by what I have learned from George Anderson.

Ron

.........

Hi Pat,

That's nice, is it yours? Thanks for posting it... Reitende Battery Field Artillery Regtiment 12

Ron

.........

That is approx. $2700. He must be an agent for Simpson Ltd. What would be a fair average price for it in France?


There ya go folks. 2 Engraved Lugers in 12 hours...

Ron

.........

I have two Lugers marked to individuals. One is an '08 first military with the name and rank of an Offizierstellvertretter on the back strap and the other is a 1914 commercial with, what I believe to be, an officer's name on the gripstrap. Photos of both these pistols were posted on Jan Still's forum quite some time ago.

interesting one

Ed,

Where did you find it? Weapon Master would mean " The Head Armorer" or " In charge of the Armory", I would think?

1st Battalion or Company / 72nd Regiment ? The" / " most likely would indicate a Reichswehr mark.

Ron

it is another of Carl's lugers. I told him I want it ;) ((he laughed at me))

I will start another thread on it, I took pictures of it from assorted angles


Ed

This may be a dumb question;

If these were German Government owned Lugers such as the above Erfurt, how did this "officer" Loblich or others obtain ownership? Was the military into selling pistols to officers or were the pistols they carried private purchased? If private purchased how did they get an government made Erfurt or a DWM with all the military acceptance stamps?

Maybe they just took an issued Luger home and kept it after the War.

Joe

German officers were obligated to buy their own equipage and weapons. They could purchase pistols from army sources. They could also buy their weapons from civilian sources.

Joe,

There was a recent post by someone who had period Gov't price list for the various sidearms that were available for purchase.

Ron

Officers also had the chance to purchase their issued service weapons from the period before they became officer.

Doc,

There is one running on one of the auction sites...photos are bad, but I would think it an Owner name as well.

This one is an artillery :

http://www.auctionarms.com/search/di...temnum=8019640

I've seen that one on Auction Arms too. Wonder how much that hurts the value?

The seller hurts the value. Check this guys feedback...

Ron, how can you say that? They just don't have time, they sell "hundreds of guns a month"... This is the same excuses I see on ebay, folks sell so much volume, the customer service part is forgotten...

Ed,

This guy has a 1914 Mauser posted that I nearly bid on. I read his feedbacks and thought better of it. He's got some nice stuff posted, but if he can't get his &H^T together why take the chance.

Ron

About 40 years ago I was talking with an old dagger collector from Arizona, The subject of named daggers came up and he said without iron clad provenance as to it's origin they are worth the price to have one engraved. Good advice, I've followed it since. By the way in 50 years of picking and collecting I have never seen a personalized Luger. The closet I've come is the one that Ed pictured above.
Carl