Erfurt Luger
 

I have wanted a world war one or earlier Luger but have avoided Erfurt manufactured pistols due to their reputation for inferior wormanship. Is this a mistake on my part?

Vern

Yes, but Erfurt Lugers may even been worth more due to there were less of them made. A DWM or Erfurt are both nice Lugers IMO. The outside of an Erfurt is a little rougher. They have many RC marked so called reject parts but I dont think if the pistol survived the war in good condition it was much of a issue with them. I wouldnt hesitate on buying a good condition Erfurt just because it is rougher.

Functionaly, an Erfurt Luger is every bit as good as a DWM. As Ted (Thor) has pointed out, Erfurt, being a government arsenal, did not exercise the same level of exterior finish as DWM, which had been producing commercial weapons and therefore was prepared with equipment and procedures to produce a finer finish. Also as Ted has indicated, there are fewer Erfurt Lugers to collect. So in my opinion, in the higher condition range (95% or better) given a DWM and an Erfurt in identical condition I would expect the Erfurt to command a slight premium.

Conventional Wisdom has always been that Erfurts are worth less than their corresponding DWM, I suspect because of the finish difference. I would expect that Ron is right, that Erfurts are going to bring a premium. Some of us simply prefer Erfurts.

At the beginning the Erfurt finish was not necessarily inferior, I have a 1911 which is every bit as nice as a DWM.

--Dwight