[Kyrie]

Hi Bill,


If Iâ??ve left the impression I think all the incorrect serial number range 1900 Commercial Lugers being identified as 1900 US Army Test Trails Lugers are fakes or forgeries I sincerely and abjectly apologize - that wasnâ??t at all what I meant. Let me see if I can be clearer.


The US Army order for 1,000 Lugers for test trials was filled by DWM with variation 1900 Commercial Lugers. These 1,000 are positively distinguishable from all the other 1900 Commercial variation Lugers only by the serial number range of the US Test Trail Lugers, and this serial number range is known from period Bureau of Accounting records. This serial number range is not speculation; it is based on primary source documents.


All of the US Test Trail Lugers had these characteristics:


1. Serial number in the range 6099 to 7098.


2. Great Seal of the US over the chamber.


3. Barrel of 4.75 inches.


4. Chambered for the 7.65 mm Parabellum.


5. Serial numbered in the commercial style, save for the number on the take down latch, which is on the rounded stub of the take down latch and visible from the right side of the pistol.


6. â??Flaming Bombâ? DWM inspection stamp on the bottom of the barrel extension, in front of the recoil lug.


7. Will not be stamped â??Germany.â?


8. Will not have any proof marks.


1900 Commercial variation Lugers produced after serial number 7098 may be found with one or more of characteristics 2 through 8, and the presence of these characteristics has led people to incorrectly identify these more common 1900 Commercial variation Lugers as 1900 US Army Test Trail Lugers. People want 1900 Test Trial Lugers and are willing to rationalize away the evidence that indicates their pistol is not what they want it to be. This is what I think is happening here on the forum.


That said, fraud and counterfeiting of the 1900 US Army Test Trial Lugers is a problem - not here on the forum but in the larger Luger collecting environment, and thatâ??s the area I was trying to address with my comment about 100 years of forgery.


There are unscrupulous folks out there who will fraudulently misrepresent a 1900 Commercial variation with a Great Seal as a 1900 Test Trials Luger. This is when knowing the correct serial number range of the 1900 US Army Test Trial Lugers is important to the prospective purchaser.


There are also unscrupulous people who will take a 1900 Commercial variation and alter the serial number to make it appear to fall in the Test Trials serial number range, and this is where knowing the other 2 through 8 characteristics of the Test Trial Luger can save a collector a lot of anguish.


And finally, there are those people who will take any Luger with the Great Seal and alter it to look like a Test Trial Luger. Knowledge of all the characteristics of a genuine Test Trial Luger is good preventive medicine against these folks.


More generally, I wanted to attempt to warn the collector, â??newbieâ? and â??old handâ? both, that our desire to own a specific variation can be our worst enemy. If that desire gets out of hand we can find ourselves disregarding evidence that a pistol isnâ??t what we want it to be because we so badly want it to be what we desire.


I hope Iâ??ve expressed myself more clearly!


Best regards,


Kyrie