[Eugen]

The newbie is back with a few questions regarding my holster. I obtained this holster with a 1939 military stamped Luger recently. As you can see in the photos the holster is spray painted with black paint?! Yikes! Was this the work of an errant prior owner or was it done early in its life for a purpose, such as for a color guard, sentry duty of a publically visible location, or other ceremonial purpose? When I was in the military many years ago, the pressure to achieve a high gloss shine on leather shoes and such would lead to some guy’s coming up with many schemes to out shine the others. Did someone get the rattle can out in the 60’s or is this a period correct German military procedure?

That being said I am inclined to believe it was some misguided attempt much later to make an old holster look good. I have made an online purchase of a book on Luger holsters that I have yet to receive. Hoping that be helpful. Additionally, I was hoping to tap the collective knowledge of folks on this forum for any insight on my quest for understanding. If you cannot tell from the photos, on the back of the holster are the following stampings: “eue/40”, eagle over swastika above “WaA300” and then “P.08”

If I am advised it definitely does not belong on the holster, then I guess I should remove it. Do you have any suggestions as to how to do this without damaging the leather or the patina? In many places it is easily flaked off with the gentle persuasion of my thumb nail. On other areas the paint may be more tenacious.

As to the holsters background, it came with the 1939 luger and was a GI bring back (as I have detailed in another post). After the local GI died in 2004 and the spouse died last year, the family sold it to a guy that only owned it for a few months. So the Luger and the holster were not in too many hands.

Thank you for your thoughts and comments.