1918 Dwm
 

The gun is a 1918 DWM, the extra eagle looks like early Mauser to me
It also looks like a grip strap marking have been removed.

Is this a possible rework after the warâ?¦ any thoughts on the mater ?

http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/1918_luger.jpg

http://www.auctionarms.com/search/di...temnum=5611585

Jim :confused:

Hi,

Reproofed after barrel replacement?

GvV, You're probably correct about the addition of the early Nazi proof eagle, but this is quite unusual. I've seen several WW1 militaries with added Nazi proofs, but this is the first like this. TH

Tom,

The fact that it has no 1920 property mark is interesting. Perhaps an officer's personal gun that served during WW1, was not 1920-marked because of personal ownership, had it's barrel replaced and proofed at Mauser when the Officer went back in service in the 1930s and rather than buying a new gun, continued using his old one.

The additional eagle is "Federal Republic of Germany".
I'm not sure but this might show the gun has been in service with post WWII German authorities.
BTW, the grip looks pretty much like a unit mark has been grounded off.
Juergen

Juergen,

I'm puzzled. Do you mean that the proof used in the postwar Bundesrepublik is similar to that before the war?

(I trust you refer to the rightmost eagle?)

Yes, I mean the rightmost eagle.
Pretty much looks like the Federal Eagle (Bundesadler), in use since January 20, 1950.
At the time it was introduced the order issued by Adenauer was referring to the Weimar era eagle.
Could this mean it was re-proofed in the Weimar era ?

Hi Juergen,

The first 'proof eagle' dates from the time the gun was manufactured, 1918. The second (rightmost) 'proof eagle' was in use as a Wehrmacht acceptance proof from 1936 - 1939.

A change in proof marks in 1950 is logical since the post-1939 one was a Nazi-swastika one and therefore not fit for use after WW2. I guess they just returned to the 1936 - 1939 proof since that one was 'a-political' and available.

Therefore I think this particular gun was reproofed between 1936 - 1939.

Found a nice website addressing postwar German proofing. You will see that the later postwar proofs match the earlier prewar one which may indeed create confusion.

http://www.waffeninfo.net/beschuss.php

Also follow the link to the german proof house identifiers. The staghorn is found on postwar Mauser Parabellums and I have a 1989-proofed VoPo which has the Koln proof mark.

http://www.waffeninfo.net/waffen/bes...schuss_brd.jpg

Proof mark years are either 2 letter year codes or 2 digit year codes (i.e. 1972 is proofed as 72).

The year letters follow the following scheme:
A = 0
B = 1
C = 2
D = 3
E = 4
F = 5
G = 6
H = 7
I = 8
J = 9

So 1989 would be represented by IJ.

Hope this may clarify some proofmark issues.