Help with my granddad's Luger
 

This Luger belonged to my grandfather, he died before I was born, so I don't know anything about it. I think it's a P08 commercial, and all serial numbers match. Could you gentlemen help me with the guns age, approximate value, and any other information you might have. Thanks

You are correct, it is a commericial luger, commonlly called an "alphabet" luger, made in the mid 1920's for export to the USA (see the Germany stamping).

I presume it is in 7.65mm caliber?

Value is harder to say, it is reallly in excellent shape, which can help value.

I normally would say about $1000-$1200 for a commercial luger, but I think $1400-$1500 would be about right.


ed

Ed, thanks for your help

Yes it is a 7.65mm

According to Jan Still's Weimar Lugers, #1906n was made in 1924, if you assume an even rate of production throughout the year. The GERMANY marked mag is worth around $200 alone.

MFC, you have tweaked my curiosity...Why is an "import" marked mag worth that much??? Would that be more or less than the same mag without the inport marking???

Pistino,
The mags are the same except for the GERMANY stamp. The stamp is the same as GERMANY stamped commercial Lugers, so it doesn't detract from the value. It is beleived by some collectors that they are replacement or second mags. They are far fewer of them than the the blank bottom mags you normally see in commercial Lugers. I haven't seen one sell recently on any of the forums or auction sites. $200 range is what they used to sell for a year or two ago.

Postino,
The magazines are not "import" marked, they are "export" marked. Unlike today's import marked Lugers that have markings applied in the U.S. by the importer, these original magazines were marked in Germany for export to English speaking countries.

The mag bottom is one reason I based my estimation onvalue, the mag bottom is very nice, and the gun is too. Usually these american imported commercials are not worth as much as say a military, but this one is in very nice shape (AS IS THE MAG)


Ed

Import mark could be positive. If it had "Stoeger", it would bring more. But now the problem is... how do I know that "Stoeger" mark being real?