Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyrie
...ultimately we just don’t know and cannot know with certainty when, by whom, and for what purpose they were made.
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We can know that upright c/N proofed Lugers were made by DWM and proofed in Berlin.
We can know that Lugers with two lazy c/N proofs with a proof on the top of the breechblock were reworked somewhere in Germany and proofed in Suhl.
We can know that DWM-toggle Lugers with upright C/c/U proofs were assembled by Mauser and proofed in Oberndorf.
(We can know that Lugers reworked or repurposed in Germany for state purposes will have their own identifying characteristics.)
We can know that a Luger without a proper commercial proof could not legally be sold in Germany (or anyplace else in Europe).
We can know that Lugers marketed outside continental Europe were proofed in their country of sale, or in the case of the US and some other countries, not necessarily proofed at all.
We can know that all Lugers formally imported into the US were required to be stamped GERMANY or MADE IN GERMANY (with the exception of an expicitly recognized pre-war variation).
With this knowledge in hand, the vast majority of commercial Lugers with a purported origin between 1918 and 1932 (or so) can be identified. Speculatively, the origin of those remaining--such as the example in the beginning of this discussion--cannot even be differentiated between inter-war Germany or elsewhere (particularly the US) from any other time.
Lumping all the foregoing into the convenient catch-all designation of "1920 Commercial designation" does a disservice to the Luger collector and historian. It is much more useful to identify and discuss individual examples by their actual characteristics.
The collector designation "1920 Commercial" ought to be consigned to the dustbin of history.
--Dwight