"The Dirty Dozen"?
 

It's been a little quiet on this forum the last few days, maybe all that drinking had something to do with it! As those of you who collect Imperial Navy Lugers have probably realized by now, many of the "matching" magazines out there are fake, and the fakers have even gotten around to faking non-matching Navy mags as these too are worth a premium.
Here's a little quiz I've put together which you can amuse yourselves with while you digest all those turkey left-overs. Just to make it interesting I've included two authentic magazines. Don't blame me for the photos, I didn't take a single one!
I'll be back in a couple of days with the answers. I was thinking about offering a generous cash prize to the first member posting the correct answers but figured the he, or she, would find that too insulting and would prefer the glory instead.
Norm

Last two photos.

The wood looks correct!

Initial observations from a novice, the small font size is not a style I've seen. So, I believe they are spurious (big word) :-)

G2

I'll say serial number 3914 and 4298. If I'm right, I'll say why I think so.

I'll go with 3914 but I'm stuck on the second one 4298 looks good but I wouldn't bet my life on it. Great idea for a post some of the more experienced members should do this more often to test our skills. Thanks Norm.
Jim

Closed top "4"s and flat top "3"s are dead giveaways.

Nice teaching item Norm!

I used to go visit my friend Bill Munis and he would show me different guns - he'd ask me which one was a reblue or fake (they never were) but some were very hard to tell. Too hard of metal equaled lighter stamps, etc.

With police lugers, I see magazines that are 'renumbered' - not the faking I see above, but new numbers. How many are done in America? A lot I'd guess...

I tried to post the photos in numerical order but they seem to have been shuffled somewhat in the uploading process. Here are the numbers as pictured.
Mag 1 #918
Mag 2 #3081 (2nd photo, number not visible)
Mag 3 #3439
Mag 4 #3914
Mag 5 #4298
Mag 6 #4729
Mag 7 #7382
Mag 8 #8123
Mag 9 #3483
Mag 10 #76937
Mag 11 #8209
Mag 12 #9263
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to identify the TWO authentic magazines.
Norm

Do I spy the elusive Russian Capture mag, second to last?;)

Mag 2 side view looks good
Mag 9 #3483

my guess
 

I'm going with #9 and #12..... best, GT...:eek:

Best I can tell from photos, I'd agree with GT --- #3483 & 4298. TH

I agree with Mike C. #2 & #9.
-Jason

I see old numbers under new numbers for #12. Plus the crown looks off and the numbers are too deep.

I will go with #9 and #2....#2 side view looks good as others point out, and we know some tubes are blued for navy mags.

#5 looks ok, but the 4 looks closed and not open.....but numbers also looked double struck at least on the 2.

Well here goes, the moment you've all been waiting for, the two correct magazines:
#2 Mag #3081 (Blued tube)
#9 Mag #3483
The winners are:
#1 MFC (Mike C.)
#2 spripple33 (Jason)
#3 Pistol
Congratulations you guys!
Norm

The red flags:
#1 Mag #918, C/M inverted, numbers stamped cross-wise and too small.
#2 Mag #3081, this one is legit. I'll be discussing blued Imperial magazines in a separate thread.
#3 Mag #3439, C/M inverted, numbers too small.
#4 Mag #3914, Flat-topped #3 and closed #4.
#5 Mag #4298, closed #4.
#6 Mag #4729, closed #4.
#7 Mag #7382, missing C/M and flat-topped #3.
#8 Mag #8123, take your pick!
#9 Mag #3483, legit.
#10 Mag #76937, C/M stamped at wrong end, the 5 digit serial # is too small and stamped cross-wise.
#11 Mag #8209, C/M missing & numbers inverted.
#12 Mag #9263, numbers too small and flat-topped #3.
Norm

Back to the books for me! That was fun and very informative thanks for posting Norm!
Jim

Excellent lesson. Thanks!

Does the smoothness or quality of the wood have anything to do with its authenticity?