Mike,
I don't know if anyone can answer your question definitively without a photo; however, I have seen (and have one example) of stamped suffixes such as "p" or "q" on Alphabet DWMs (aka 1920 Commercial) that are missing part of their "tails" because of the curvature of the frame.
This thread on Jan Still's forum discusses the whys and wherefors of the DWM serial numbering system:
http://luger.gunboards.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9324.