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Ron Wood · 03-08-2005, 01:40 PM

Tom,

Those are the lines of investigation I am pursuing. I have a record of one Luger in the 6100-7100 range that is GERMANY marked. That record came to me third-handed so I do not know if it has the AE crest, if it is a commercial, or if it may be a test piece that made its way to Germany and then was stamped and re-imported. This is a possibility, since I know of one very early AE in the 2100 range that had gone to Switzerland and had been modified with the â??Uâ? shaped rear sight and marked with the Swiss cross on the rear toggle link. So Lugers intended for the American market have made it back and forth across the puddle on more than one occasion. As I stated in my reply to Edâ??s post, I have had 4 â??possibleâ? commercials reported in the 6100-7100 range, one of which I have eliminated, and another without a crest and bearing a commercial proof that I hope to put a micrometer on in the near future.

As soon as I have a chance to do a bit more confirmation, I will post an updated version of my serial number lists, probably around May. As it stands now, the reported and observed serial number range runs from 5987 to 7990. I totally agree with Steven Fuller that the 1900 U.S. Test Trial Lugers were not consecutively serial numbered and extended over a much larger range than the published, but undocumented, 6100-7100 range.

My hunt for Test Luger data is confounded by the fact that I canâ??t personally inspect each piece. In many cases I have to rely on what has been observed and reported by others, sometimes being passed through a couple of people before it gets to me. A very real possibility exists that some of the reported pieces are actually commercial, but were reported as test pieces simply because they fell into the â??acceptedâ? range. To make matters worse, one reported example was first observed without a crest, and when seen on a later occasion had the crest! Quite possibly a commercial piece that someone thought was â??wrongâ? or a deliberate attempt to boost it. So I follow up on every lead that I can and try to verify that the piece being reported has the characteristics of a test piece, or may be that elusive commercial example(s) that I suspect exists. If anyone out there has one, please let me know!!!

I would strongly suspect that the 50 returned pieces (which were specified that they had to be in good condition) were turned over to Hans Tauscher and subsequently sold to a US retailer for re-sale. So some of them are probably still around in collections and may be on my listâ?¦there is no way to tell.

The 9mm prototypes are documented, having been personally presented by Georg Luger to the Ordnance Board at Springfield Armory on 21 May 1903. Serial #10030B had a barrel length of 120mm, and #10060B had a barrel length of 150mm.

And the search for the facts goes onâ?¦

03-08-2005, 01:40 PM	#7
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	Tom, Those are the lines of investigation I am pursuing. I have a record of one Luger in the 6100-7100 range that is GERMANY marked. That record came to me third-handed so I do not know if it has the AE crest, if it is a commercial, or if it may be a test piece that made its way to Germany and then was stamped and re-imported. This is a possibility, since I know of one very early AE in the 2100 range that had gone to Switzerland and had been modified with the â??Uâ? shaped rear sight and marked with the Swiss cross on the rear toggle link. So Lugers intended for the American market have made it back and forth across the puddle on more than one occasion. As I stated in my reply to Edâ??s post, I have had 4 â??possibleâ? commercials reported in the 6100-7100 range, one of which I have eliminated, and another without a crest and bearing a commercial proof that I hope to put a micrometer on in the near future. As soon as I have a chance to do a bit more confirmation, I will post an updated version of my serial number lists, probably around May. As it stands now, the reported and observed serial number range runs from 5987 to 7990. I totally agree with Steven Fuller that the 1900 U.S. Test Trial Lugers were not consecutively serial numbered and extended over a much larger range than the published, but undocumented, 6100-7100 range. My hunt for Test Luger data is confounded by the fact that I canâ??t personally inspect each piece. In many cases I have to rely on what has been observed and reported by others, sometimes being passed through a couple of people before it gets to me. A very real possibility exists that some of the reported pieces are actually commercial, but were reported as test pieces simply because they fell into the â??acceptedâ? range. To make matters worse, one reported example was first observed without a crest, and when seen on a later occasion had the crest! Quite possibly a commercial piece that someone thought was â??wrongâ? or a deliberate attempt to boost it. So I follow up on every lead that I can and try to verify that the piece being reported has the characteristics of a test piece, or may be that elusive commercial example(s) that I suspect exists. If anyone out there has one, please let me know!!! I would strongly suspect that the 50 returned pieces (which were specified that they had to be in good condition) were turned over to Hans Tauscher and subsequently sold to a US retailer for re-sale. So some of them are probably still around in collections and may be on my listâ?¦there is no way to tell. The 9mm prototypes are documented, having been personally presented by Georg Luger to the Ordnance Board at Springfield Armory on 21 May 1903. Serial #10030B had a barrel length of 120mm, and #10060B had a barrel length of 150mm. And the search for the facts goes onâ?¦ __________________ If it's made after 1918...it's a reproduction