Is this is a original 1918 DWM
 

Can anyone tell me if this is a original 1918 DWM or a DWM that was reworked and engraved?
See Pics
Attachment 15523

[Attachment 15525
Attachment 15524

Beyond any doubt, this is not an original DWM. It certainly has been reworked or whatever you want to call it.
Mike

What would the value of this gun be?
Did the Engraving and inlay add to the value?

That depends on the buyer, and basically if he/she is a collector or buying it just out of appearance.
I would think most guys here would much rather have an original artillery Luger, even with a fair portion of pitting, rather than this one.

I concur, this is definitely a custom engraving... collector value ? Not as a Luger, but perhaps as the representative of the engraving arts. Value would be in the eye of the purchaser. The gun has lost virtually all collector value as a Luger...

Especially with the silly Maltese Cross on the grips. That put it over the top for me..

I like it much better than the fake nazi engraved ones tho ;)

It looks like a Franklin Mint gun. One of the Limited Edition Commemoratives they used to sell with magazine adds.

Pete Ebbink posted this one a few years ago, I bet it's a real chick magnet. Regards

Sorry Norm, I like the 2nd one :)

God! What a waste of a Navy Luger! I am not a large fan of engraving but these don't look all that bad. No getting them back without a time machine..

Jerry Burney

Jerry, Sine the second example is very tastefully done, and doesn't include a date stamped on the receiver ring, it may be that it was a commercial gun or hopefully a parts gun made from a commercial receiver.

I am sure you join me in preferring to think that a "real" Navy Luger wasn't sacrificed to create this one...

I DO like the engraving on this one, but it isn't something I would ever have done to one of my guns.

The only engraved gun I own is a Beretta O/U skeet gun (Model S56E) that I bought in Africa back in 1973... it was factory original engraving on the receiver. It was/is nice to look at, but it never made my Skeet scores any higher :banghead:

Hi John, It's a 1908 Navy, they had undated chambers. Regards, Norm

It would be interesting to try to match the engraved ship's sillouette to a known craft. It looks like period engraving and the ivory looks old as well. I wonder if there was any dedication engraved on the gun?

Hi Doug, Some effort was made to identify the two ships (unsuccessfully) when this gun was originally posted, back in 2005. Heres the link. Regards, Norm http://forum.lugerforum.com/showthread.php?t=11828

You guys are all wrong, the Luger as posted in the original question was presented to Lt. Werner Voss three days before his monumental dogfight with 5 SE5's. The Maltese cross is there to symbolize Jasta 11. At the time of Voss's death, the gun was in the hotel room of Lother Von Richthofen and they gun than was passed on to Ernest Udet.

This gun was on display at the Richthofen museum and how did you acquire it.