WWII Mauser Luger Mystery... Help me solve it!
 

Hello,

First-time poster... I'm writing with a mystery.

I'm trying to help a friend track down a Mauser Luger and holster that his grandfather brought back from WWII, and which he sadly pawned when he was in a hard spot back in 2011. His grandfather took it from a German officer who surrendered to the 84th Infantry Division in the spring of 1945-- and although I don't know it, the German officer's name is inscribed on the holster. I have the Bring Back papers for the gun-- the S/N is 459 and I believe the model is a P08 / S42. It was pawned in Denver, Colorado.

Does anyone know anything about this gun? Does anyone have any ideas about how to track it down? An expert I should talk to? Or prominent collector of WWII lugers?

Thanks all!

I deleted your two other posts. No need to start the same thread in multiple subforums.

Contact the pawn shop. They may be willing to forward a letter to whomever they sold the Luger to, and you might be able to buy it back.

Hello and welcome to the forum.

We have an FAQ PDF document available free with quite a bit of reference information that you'll probably find helpful. Just follow the FAQ link at the top of the page.

"459" is probably not the complete Luger serial number, as most of them had a suffix letter.

Know that German officers did not normally carry Lugers because they were too big and bulky. Most of them had pocket pistols like the Walther PP/PPK or the Mauser M1914/M1934. That said, almost every GI captured pistol is reputed to come from "an officer".

Luger serial numbers are duplicated over time by the different manufacturers and even from the same manufacturer. Your Luger with a "S/42" toggle would be an earlier one (likely 1934-1938) shipped from Mauser.

About your only path to actually locate it is the one Patrick suggested.

mrerick,

I agree that most German senior (non combatant) officers may have chosen pocket pistols for their self protection (just as our senior officers may have chosen Browning 1903s).

For regular combat officers, ammo supply issues would have been a pain in the neck. Also, a 9mm Parabellum cartridge is much more effective combat cartridge than a 7.65acp.

Since Lugers were issued to NCOs at government expense, this may be where so many G.I.s picked up their captures.


Respectfully,


Sieger