1920 Government Propery Stamp
Barry,
Your confusion about the meaning of the 1920 propery stamp is shared by many collectors and dealers. It is very often referred to as the "1920 rework stamp." The truth is that it meant only that the weapon was the legitimate property of the government and was therefore exempted from the "Disarming of the German Population."
Since WWI ended with an armistice and not a surrender, German troops retained their weapons and many soldiers took their personal weapons home. Thus, Germany became one of the most heavily armed nations in the world. The Treaty of Versailles prohibited civilian possession of "war materials" which resulted in the "Disarming of the People Law" of 7 Augeust 1920 requiring that prohibited weapons be turned in for a nominal reward. Prior to this, orders were issued to at least the Army and police to stamp 1920 on their weapons to prevent them from being stolen and turned in for the reward. In most cases, the 1920 stamp on a police weapon probably means it was already police property at that time. There are some notable exceptions that are explained in my book.
There was no wholesale rework program to make police weapons "compliant with the Versailles Treaty" as is often stated. The police were permitted to have pistols with calibers greater than 8mm and barrel lengths longer than 100mm. Police used many unmodified LP08s and C96s for some period following the war. Apparently, most decided that barrels longer than 100mm were unsuitable for police service and shortened them by about 1930. These reworks were independent of the 1920 stamp.
The addition of sear and mag safeties to police P08s did not occur until 1934 in response to an order by the Interior Ministry in August 1933.
My database lists police markings and some details of the weapons they are on. I am currently approaching 3,000 records!
I hope this helps clarify things.
|