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Kyrie · 09-20-2017, 09:22 PM

Don,

Apology accepted, and I sincerely tender my own apology to you for my own intemperate remarks. Missed communication indeed.

I began collecting Lugers back in the day when Kenyon was about the only resource available (unless one counts Datig), and Jan Still’s works wouldn’t be published for another twenty-five or thirty years. It’s hard for collectors of today (who have had access to the works of Still, Walter, Gortz, Sturgess, et. al. for a significant part of their lives) to appreciate just how much the 1920s and the guns produced in them were nearly a complete mystery back in the day.

I’m not just aware of Still’s work and new nomenclature (20 DWM, Alphabet DWM, 29 DWM), I’m an enormous fan of his creation of the terminology and the underlying work that produced it. For a caveman era Luger collector like myself it was wonderfully clarifying and brought some badly needed order to the literature (and the pricing!) of late Imperial, Weimar, and very early third Reich Lugers.

But this new system of classification of, well, call it “interregnum Lugers” is focused almost entirely on guns intended for use in Germany by the German armed forces (in which I include the German police).

It does not address the tons of Lugers not destined for use, or even necessarily sale, in Germany and these guns cannot be classed within the limits imposed by 20 DWM, Alphabet DWM, and 29 DWM. These are guns for which I still used the term “1920 Commercial” because there is still no more descriptive term.

I’m honestly not willfully misusing the term “1920 Commercial” when I should be using “Alphabet DWM”. I’m using 1920 Commercial for Lugers that are outside the underlying rules that define the usage of 20 DWM, Alphabet DWM, or 29 DWM.

09-20-2017, 09:22 PM	#22
Kyrie User Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 757 Thanks: 0 Thanked 212 Times in 101 Posts	Don, Apology accepted, and I sincerely tender my own apology to you for my own intemperate remarks. Missed communication indeed. I began collecting Lugers back in the day when Kenyon was about the only resource available (unless one counts Datig), and Jan Still’s works wouldn’t be published for another twenty-five or thirty years. It’s hard for collectors of today (who have had access to the works of Still, Walter, Gortz, Sturgess, et. al. for a significant part of their lives) to appreciate just how much the 1920s and the guns produced in them were nearly a complete mystery back in the day. I’m not just aware of Still’s work and new nomenclature (20 DWM, Alphabet DWM, 29 DWM), I’m an enormous fan of his creation of the terminology and the underlying work that produced it. For a caveman era Luger collector like myself it was wonderfully clarifying and brought some badly needed order to the literature (and the pricing!) of late Imperial, Weimar, and very early third Reich Lugers. But this new system of classification of, well, call it “interregnum Lugers” is focused almost entirely on guns intended for use in Germany by the German armed forces (in which I include the German police). It does not address the tons of Lugers not destined for use, or even necessarily sale, in Germany and these guns cannot be classed within the limits imposed by 20 DWM, Alphabet DWM, and 29 DWM. These are guns for which I still used the term “1920 Commercial” because there is still no more descriptive term. I’m honestly not willfully misusing the term “1920 Commercial” when I should be using “Alphabet DWM”. I’m using 1920 Commercial for Lugers that are outside the underlying rules that define the usage of 20 DWM, Alphabet DWM, or 29 DWM.