history lesson
 

Ok, lets pull this one apart for learning..

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...?Item=44523739


Is it a police model?

it might have been brought back after WW2, but not exactly a WW2 model...

I like this part of the description....... "Unfortunately this pistol has some pitting, but has no rust at all"...........

Bob

Ed,

No visible indication that it's police. Maybe he is assuming, because it's a 1920.

Of course, it's a Navy!

Must be one of those Lugers that was found in the sunken wreckage of a U-Boat 40 years later...

Nothing a blast of rust-o-leum can't cure.

OK more seriously, I have rarely seen if ever a 1920 dated Luger (that wasn't double dated), and I assume this is probably a genuine police model. Would help a lot to see the serial number and any markings - if any left. If a police model I think there should be markings on the front strap or back strap(?) Looks like there could be 3 or 4 proof marks on the RH side but the photos are awful.

Finish does look like spray paint - very uniform and obviously on top of the pitting. Strawed parts are as black as the finish. Though there does appear to be wear on the RH side of the barrel extension.

Just because it has no import marks doesn't mean it's a vet bringback.

Wonder what the reserve is?

1920 dated only means it was a property stamp for the Reichswehr, so it has no direct connection to police.

I have several just 1920 dated, either the previous date was taken off or there never was one. Also have 1920 with a 1921 date on them too, mine ARE police, but there are army ones.

Reasons it is not Police.
**There is no indication of Police Markings (unit markings)
**No magazine safety
**No Sear safety (both are on most police, but not all.
**No numbers on the magazine base, which leads me to beleive it started and finished as a commerical piece.

Ed

OK just to make things more interesting...

Look at GunBroker item #40099793

This was recently sold by someone else to this seller. This is a similar beat up DWM with the barrel welded closed.

If you look very carefully, especially on the right hand side of the receiver, comparing photographs, looking at all the pitting like fingerprint, you will see, with 99% certainty, that this receiver is the SAME receiver the seller is now selling as the matching 1920 police. Hard to tell what else is the same.

-- Dan

The 1920 looks too clean and uniform to be a property stamp. I see no reason why this could not be a 1920 dated DWM that was produced prior to DWM being forbidden in 1921 to manufacture military Lugers. It does not appear to have been for the police and was probably for the Reichswehr. See Still's Weimar Lugers pp. 18-20.

Hi,

I go with Don. It looks like one of the pistols that was produced by DWM for the Reichswehr in 1920 and 1921. DWM's company history confirms that some 50,000 pistols were produced for police and reichswehr use.