[ithacaartist]

Welcome to the forum, John.

Pics of your new baby will help get answers to your questions. Thorough perusal of the FAQ section will answer many of your potential questions.

DWM made Swiss contract Lugers in the beginning. Rather than suffer the curtailed availability of pistols due to WWI, I believe the Swiss worked out a licensing deal to produce their own at their Bern facility. Initially, they were assembled from DWM parts sent there, until they had made their own tooling and could produce their own, around 1929.

Your letter-suffixed serial number is the military style as opposed to the early commercial 5-digit numbers which were discontinued in favor of the former in the early 20s (1921?). Those who know more--or better-- info will likely respond... BTW, no reasonable need to be shy about the full serial number.