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Ron Wood · 07-15-2003, 08:40 PM

If you follow the link to the other site, you will see that the serial number is 1896 (in the photo of the bottom of the magazine and grip - kind of coincidental isn't it, since that is the year DWM came into existence). It also has an asking price for gun and holster of $26,000. Thus it would seem that the bidding has a long way to go to reach reserve.

With regard to this Borchardt being a "reference" piece, in Hans Tauscher's letter to the Chief of Ordnance concerning "testing the Automatic Pistol-Carbine, Borchardt Patent" he wrote "...I shall personally bring Wednesday, 20th inst., such a weapon with 5000 cartridges to the Springfield Armory for this test, arm and cartridges then to the entire disposition of the War Department". Notice that all mentions of the piece are singular, no indication of more than one example.

There is no mention of a holster in the initial test. However another attempt was made to "sell" the Borchardt to the Army. Herman Boker and Company of New York had been named as the agent for Borchardt sales in the U.S. In a letter of March 28, 1898 to the Chief of Ordnance, the Boker company offered to deliver 2000 pistols with stock, holster, straps, extra magazines, screw driver and cleaning rod for the princely sum of $17.50 each (groan!!) and an advertisement for the Borchardt pistol accompanied the letter. The ad displays the conventional stock and holster for the Borchardt. The Borchardt, along with eight other pistols were submitted for testing in November of 1889. Again the Borchard was rejected.

I have no account of the conduct of that test, so it may have been less rigorous, and a great leap of faith might attribute the Borchardt being offered as this test piece. The origin of the holster remains an enigma.

The condition of the Borchard and the appearance of the holster speak for themselves. I present the foregoing information for you to consider and I leave it to each individual to accept or reject the items as you see fit.

By the way, I think that it is only proper that I give due credit for much of the historical information presented to the excellent work of Edward Scott Meadows in his book "U.S. Military Automatic Pistols 1894-1920".

07-15-2003, 08:40 PM	#16
Ron Wood Moderator 2010 LugerForum Patron Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Santa Teresa New Mexico just outside of the West Texas town of El Paso Posts: 7,040 Thanks: 1,106 Thanked 5,257 Times in 1,724 Posts	If you follow the link to the other site, you will see that the serial number is 1896 (in the photo of the bottom of the magazine and grip - kind of coincidental isn't it, since that is the year DWM came into existence). It also has an asking price for gun and holster of $26,000. Thus it would seem that the bidding has a long way to go to reach reserve. With regard to this Borchardt being a "reference" piece, in Hans Tauscher's letter to the Chief of Ordnance concerning "testing the Automatic Pistol-Carbine, Borchardt Patent" he wrote "...I shall personally bring Wednesday, 20th inst., such a weapon with 5000 cartridges to the Springfield Armory for this test, arm and cartridges then to the entire disposition of the War Department". Notice that all mentions of the piece are singular, no indication of more than one example. There is no mention of a holster in the initial test. However another attempt was made to "sell" the Borchardt to the Army. Herman Boker and Company of New York had been named as the agent for Borchardt sales in the U.S. In a letter of March 28, 1898 to the Chief of Ordnance, the Boker company offered to deliver 2000 pistols with stock, holster, straps, extra magazines, screw driver and cleaning rod for the princely sum of $17.50 each (groan!!) and an advertisement for the Borchardt pistol accompanied the letter. The ad displays the conventional stock and holster for the Borchardt. The Borchardt, along with eight other pistols were submitted for testing in November of 1889. Again the Borchard was rejected. I have no account of the conduct of that test, so it may have been less rigorous, and a great leap of faith might attribute the Borchardt being offered as this test piece. The origin of the holster remains an enigma. The condition of the Borchard and the appearance of the holster speak for themselves. I present the foregoing information for you to consider and I leave it to each individual to accept or reject the items as you see fit. By the way, I think that it is only proper that I give due credit for much of the historical information presented to the excellent work of Edward Scott Meadows in his book "U.S. Military Automatic Pistols 1894-1920". __________________ If it's made after 1918...it's a reproduction Last edited by Ron Wood; 06-22-2009 at 12:35 PM.