The 1900 "Christmas Gun"
 

This is my very favorite of all the Lugers so far.

It is an early 1900, narrow grip safety, all matched.

Inscription is "Meinem lieben Carl Ludwig Lauenstein, Weihnachten 1903"

Translated this reads: "To my dear Carl Ludewig Lauenstein, Christmas 1903"

Research on this gentleman shows him to have been a lawyer and statesman, judging by his writings available online.
We were able to find his doctoral thesis online, because of the somewhat unusual spelling of his name.

http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/top3mset/49348941

A quote from his thesis:
"If a person has disposed of a thing, and the disposition is subject to a condition precedent, any further disposition which he makes as regards the thing in the period of suspense is ineffective on the satisfaction of the condition to the extent that it would defeat or adversely affect the effect subject to the condition. Such a disposition is equivalent to a disposition which is effected during the period of suspense by execution or attachment or by the administrator in insolvency proceedings."

Very typical German legalese stuff.

When the gun was engraved, it was reblued, apparently in a hot salt blue tank, as the temps could not be gotten hot enough to turn it actually *blue*, without burning the salts, due to the hardness of the steel.
So it is a lovely old plum color.
Very non-DWM, yet vintage in it's own way.

All #s match, and I sat every night during Christmas season this year with this dear gun in my lap, as I waited to fall asleep.

I love this gun.
It touches my heart.

In 1903, there were no wars in Germany.
All was peaceful and good.
Life was sweet.
This gun smells like a Weihnachten tree and Christmas cookies.

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/3_copy9.jpg

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/6_copy4.jpg

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/7_copy4.jpg

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/8_copy4.jpg

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/10_copy2.jpg

I bet a lot of guys would be envious to have a wife who would give them a Luger for Christmas! A very nice gun... thanks for sharing... and look forward to seeing the rest of your really neat collection.

According to my German cousin, this would most likely have been a Christmas gift from the gentleman's uncle, father, or grandfather.
But definitely a gift from a male relative.

Women would not have bought a gun for a man in 1903 in Germany.

Anna, I do not think the color shift is from a dip tank. It is a rust reblue that was probably done by the jeweler who did the engraving and the salt solution had some copper, or other heavy metal salt, in it to accelerate the rust bluing process.

THe second blue has changed color over the years, but is a charming part of the history.

there is something about the way it is worded. But "Meinem lieben" sounds more like "my love" rather than "my dear".

A wife to a German Officer?

Whatever it is, very nice, I have a german pre-WW2 dagger i picked up a couple of years ago that was a Christmas gift to a graduating polizie officer

Anna,

Another delightful presentation. Could you say if the thumb safety is type 1 or type 2?

--Dwight

A German wife, out of the kitchen, what kind of crazy talk is that? ;)

Seriously though, "Meinem lieben..." means "my dear"

"My beloved" is "meinem geliebten".

There's also beliebt, which is everyone's favorite, could be a car, could be a spa, could be a tune.

Wow, very cool!

Type 1.

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/9_copy1.jpg

Thanks Heinz.
I guess I assumed hot blue salts because of the way some P-38s went plum due to temps.
I appreciate your info.

I think Heinz may be on the right track. Although I do not think there were any salts involved, it looks like it might have been a type of acid rust blue solution that was contaminated with a copper compound (possibly copper sulfate that is a component of some "cold blue" solutions). It obviously was a wipe on application rather than dip since the color appears on part of the barrel and receiver, and the portion of the left side rail that is covered by the side plate is still blue. It is interesting that the frame latch for the toggle lock is also still blue and didn't "take" the red solution.

It is a sweetheart of a gun and I understand your affection for it. The fact that it has a Type I thumb safety with this late of a serial number is just another occurrence of DWM using up existing parts. I have a 1900 Commercial with a serial number over 500 lower and it has a Type II safety.

Thanks for looking everyone, and I do think you all are exactly right about the plum bluing.
It really *does* look wiped on.
I appreciate your knowledge, folks.


Well, I *did* give my Honey a couple of Lugers this year, but we have been married for 37 years, and I know where he keeps them. ;)
He got a 1906 original 9mm AE, and a nice Mauser S/42 this year.
But he earns them....he has to put up with me yammering on excitedly about little tiny proof marks, and obscure Luger history all the time, hehehe!
And I always smell like Hoppes #9.

Hoppes #9 beats Chanel #5 any day:thumbup:

Wow,
Beautiful gun!
Thank you
Mauro

Thank you Anna for sharing, you always make my day when I see one of your Lugers. Maybe you could explain what is the difference between type 1 and type 2 thumb safety please.:confused:
Thank you
Alf.

Types 1, 2 and 3...from V. Bobba's book :

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload...pes1_and_2.jpg

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload...pe_3_copy1.jpg

Thanks Pete for your help :cheers:
Alf

Thanks for the comparison pics of the safety levers.
I really was just doing a WAG, since the 1900 gun has an early narrow grip safety, so I assumed it must be Type 1.
Thanks for proving my guess correct.
I learn so much here, y'all are wonderful!

Anna,

There is no direct correlation between the narrow/wide grip safety and the thumb safety type. Grip safeties change from narrow to wide between sn 9855 and sn 10010. Thumb safeties vary between type-1 and type-2 (in some distinct ranges) until sn 10235 where they become all type-3. Types 2 and 3 are intermixed between sn 10010 and sn 10192.

--Dwight

Dwight,

Just to clarify...the SN' you quote above pertain to the Commerical run of Lugers...not necessarily military/contract Lugers...???...

Pete,

Correct, DWM commercial exclusively.

--Dwight