Hello Ron,
After reading your comments (and your added correction) regarding the M1899 Swiss Test Trials Luger serial #21 which was auctioned by Kessler Auction in Switzerland, I wish to make a correction about some of your points and opinions.
This particular Luger pistol serial #21 ‘drops the bomb’ on the opinions and theories of Geoff’s article ‘From Borchardt to Parabellum – An Anglo-Swiss Connection’ which you tend to heavily believe as well as Charles Whittaker. In the serial range table of this article, serial #21 is listed but not much is said about it.
In the auction description, it mentions that this pistol was one of the pistols given as a gift to a member of the Swiss Commission which is plausible. However, according to Geoff’s article, he states that all twenty M1899 pistols delivered to the 1899 Swiss Trials were returned to the DWM factory after the trials for modification and afterwards ten (10) went back to Switzerland for gifts to the members of the Swiss Commission. If there were twenty pistols delivered to the 1899 Swiss Trials in the serial range 1-20, how does serial #21 fit into the whole picture assuming that it is a correct pistol? Maybe the DWM factory had a few extra pistols lying around on the shelf and decided to add this pistol to the small lot that were going back to Switzerland!! Do you really believe that pistols (which were purchased by the Swiss government) had to go back to DWM for modification, and the factory was so ill equipped to make or assemble additional Lugers for trails in other various countries without forgetting that Geoff also states that some (probably six) M1899 pistols were modified and sent to the British in April 1901? Your belief that the DWM factory would have had to renumber some M1899 pistols from Switzerland to be delivered about 18 months later to the British is meaningless in my opinion. There is no way that the DWM factory would have taken the difficult task of locating those M1899 Lugers in various parts of Switzerland in the exact sequential serial range #21-#26, or any other serial range which maybe redefined from today onwards.
It is interesting to observe that the characteristics of serial #21 are similar to serial #19 which is reported to be a pistol used in the 1899 Swiss Trials. But wait a second – it is reported that serial #21-#26 were British Test Trial pistols, so how do we explain two Lugers with the same serial number, one being a M1899 and the other being a M1900 with some improvements? Maybe serial #21 took a different route – it went from the DWM factory to the UK and then continued on to Switzerland! Maybe that explains why we see serial #21 with a polished/ milled safety area which none of the original M1899 or pre-production M1900 Lugers show. It is my opinion that those pistols given to the Swiss Commission were in a separate serial range after the 1899 Test Trials using old and new parts in stock. Do not forget that the DWM factory (including the Mauser factory) would have made enough parts on hand to supply pistols when there was an order. For your information, the DWM factory was larger and politically stronger than the Mauser factory and both companies were owned by the Loewe empire. It would have been ironic if the smaller Mauser factory would have already had a better and faster marketing strategy in place over the DWM factory for military contracts and commercial sales. I do not think that DWM management with Isador Loewe in command would allow them selves to fall behind the pace of the Mauser factory.
There has been some debate on the Swiss crest on the pre-production Lugers, so maybe you can explain why pistols serial 10, 19 and 21 do NOT have an indexing dot in the middle of the cross and the only pistol which shows this dot is the M1900 British Trials pistol serial #26. Maybe the dot is so faint on all the other M1899 pistols causing us not to see it, but serial #26 was hit pretty damn hard to make a rather pronounced dot, therefore, making morons like Geoff believe that a dot was necessary to execute each individual ray in the Swiss crest. I doubt that the Swiss would accept a pistol with a national cross being defaced by a dot. I am certain that a German engraver in the DWM factory from that period would have been able to engrave any design on a curved surface without having to use an indexing dot. Sometimes collectors jump to conclusions to fast with insufficient data. Whether it was hand engraved or hand stamped can still be debated.
I do not understand why some collectors what to believe the bull**** that one person wrote instead of using their own common sense and logic. Collectors need to gain knowledge about the high engineering skills and standards of German inventors and workers as well as understanding their heritage, discipline and pride before writing ridiculous stories.
Albert
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