Quick question on a stamp...
 

A buddy of mine has this .30 cal. DWM for sale, looked it over right quick and it seems to be matching and in very good condition. The only thing that detracts a bit is that the bluing around the muzzle is gone, which I assume is from cleaning. It looks kinda shiny in the pictures, but this is from oil and I believe the finish is all original. It's nice and clean, good grips, nice mag, well preserved straw finish etc. and appears to have been well taken care of.

There is a stamp saying "Germany" on the right side of the barrel extension, so my question is if this is the type of stamp they put on commercial Lugers back in the day, or if it's a later addition.

He's asking an even $1,000 for it. Should I bite?

(Yeah, I know the picture sucks, but that's all I have right now)

The 'Germany' stamp is an export stamp indicating the country of origin. It is correct for this model and was applied to comply with US import laws.
The muzzle is properly 'in the white'.

You can sometimes find these for $850 -$950... $1000 is OK, especially if there are no issues.

That's actually one of the better quality import markings I've seen. Most look crooked and the depth is uneven. :(

Thanks, that's exactly what I needed to know! :cheers: I'll look it over one last time before I decide, but it sounds like I have some trading coming up.

I have similar stamps on a couple of my pocket Mausers, and they look like they were applied by a drunk. This one ain't bad, but I wish they could have used a bit more finesse. It just looks out of place, kinda like an Interarms stamp.

Without the Germany it would not be what it is. Bill

At that price, make sure that the finish is original. There should be halos around the barrel stamping of the serial number...

Marc

Great tip, I will do that tomorrow.

The finish is very nicely polished and has just about zero high edge wear, and that made me suspicious when I first saw it. It's actually so nice that the oil on it made it look like a hot blue. Still, I guess this is what to expect from a commercial gun of that vintage, isn't it?

In any case, the inside is in the white and with a nice, yellowish brown patina in places, so it's definitely not hot blued. All edges are nice and crisp, all parts in the toggle train line up nicely without anything being rounded over etc. so there's nothing that indicates that it has been buffed and blued. It just has that "authentic old original" look to it, so if it's a reblue it must be a hell of a nice rust blue job done a long time ago.

But you can never be too sure so I'll definitely check it closer, especially as the price is right at high retail.

Take a look at the bore. It should look pretty good on this gun.

From what I can see in the photos and your description, the asking price seems pretty close to correct. There just aren't a lot of really nice ones coming up for sale.....at least in my area of the Country. If everything checks out as hoped for, I, personally, would "pull the trigger' and own it.

Still haven't been able to look at it, but I might pull the trigger. Just don't want to jump the gun. Damn, I'm funny today... :rolleyes::D