Pat et al, To the best of my knowledge after 50 years of dealing with lugers and having read most of the books, is that Red Nine grip marked lugers were a mistake made by a few field armours. The first 61K 9mmP Mauser brooms made by Mauser in 1916 come from the factory with the standard unmarked grips. Since some troops were attempting to use the previous 7.63mm Mauser ammo in them, a directive was issued that the Factory would beginning marking the grips with the big "Red Nine" and that field armours would marked those already issued as best they could. So, aledgedly, some armours went nuts and marked any pistol in 9mmP with a long barrel with there stamp or pocket knife. I would guesstimate, that there are now hundreds more "Red NIne" marked LPO8s, than were actually marked during WW1. So just be aware, most a phony. TH
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