Military side plates
 

Are all military P08 side plates marked with some part of the gun's serial #?

A friend recently tried to sell his 1939 Mauser (I believe) Luger. The piece has all matching #s, or so he thought. The first potential buyer said that since the side plate was unnumbered it was a replacement and therefore the gun wasn't all matching. Is this true?

I'm not an expert, but I believe that is correct. The 1939 Mauser was issued with a matching number side plate. No number indicates non-matching or not original.

MCG

There are some periods where Mauser did not consistently number grips. Side plates were always numbered on military Lugers, generally on the outside and inside. The outside had the last two numeric digits of the serial number, the inner surface had either the first one or two digits plus one or the first one or two digits.

That means one numbered plat in 10,000 will match the Mauser Lugers. Anything else is a replacement and the gun is not all matching.

Marc

Were there any contract pieces not numbered in the military style?

Were there any commercial banner for 1939?

But then I think both would be numbered in the commercial style, I.e on the bottom of the sideplate and an UN numbered replacement would be acceptance marked (proofed)