Unit markings on grip frame?
 

Howdy,

This is my first post here. A coupla days ago, my 88 year old Dad gave me his 1917 DWM Luger that was given to him by a cop friend in the 1950's. It's a great-looking pistol with all matching numbers and a great bore. It's my first and probably only Luger, and has the following marks on the forward side of the grip frame near the bottom:

S.D. VI. 577.

Is this a unit number, and if so, what unit was it? TIA!

It is a police unit marking for the Schutzpolizei of Düsseldorf under both the 1922 and 1932 Prussian Police marking instructions. The Roman numeral VI indicates the 6th Schupo command and the Arabic number 577 indicates that your pistol is the 577th luger in inventory of that particular command.

Thanks for the info. I'll bet it could tell some great stories if it could talk!

Here's some pictures:

http://s855.photobucket.com/albums/a...w.jpg&newest=1

http://s855.photobucket.com/albums/a...g%26newest%3D1

http://s855.photobucket.com/albums/a...g%26newest%3D1

http://s855.photobucket.com/albums/a...g%26newest%3D1

http://s855.photobucket.com/albums/a...g%26newest%3D1

http://s855.photobucket.com/albums/a...g%26newest%3D1

http://s855.photobucket.com/albums/a...g%26newest%3D1

Yup, it's a police model.

It looks like someone welded over the cut in the receiver for the magazine safety. The work looks old, but you can see the different surface from the weld spot.