Uncles Luger-Need Opinion

[Scott1966]

My Uncle passed away last year. He had two pistols he brought back from WWII. A Walther and this Luger. You guys are the experts please provide any history, value. Interesting also, there is a name on holster any idea's (Officer?, etc). Thank you,l very interesting forum.

[Ron Smith]

Hi Scott,

The Luger was made in 1918 by the Government arsenal at Erfurt. There were two Luger producers during WWI. DWM which was a commerially owned and operated company. And Erfurt, which was the Government Arsenal.

There were approximately 175,000 Erfurts produced during 1918.

The holster is a copy of the standard issue G.I. shoulder holster, converted to attach to an Army issue web belt.

My guess would be that it was custom built by the German maker who's name is on the holster, for a GI during the occupation after the surrender in '45.

Welcome to the forum...

Ron

[suum cuique]

Originally Posted by Scott1966

My Uncle passed away last year. He had two pistols he brought back from WWII. A Walther and this Luger. You guys are the experts please provide any history, value. Interesting also, there is a name on holster any idea's (Officer?, etc). Thank you,l very interesting forum.

Nice Luger and an interesting holster. The Carl Kuntze Company is an old traditional leather manufaturer in Saxony. They produced horseback ridung equipment, horse harness and carriage equipment.
Material made for military contracts were marked with "bmu".
The "SA" stands for Sachsen (Saxony) like MD for Maryland.

Ron: Your theorie could be right. Penig was occupied by US troops on April 14, 1945. On July 1, 1945 the US troops left this town after on June 14, 1945 the Red Army took over the town. Maybe some GI wanted a holster for his pistol.

[DavidJayUden]

Welcome!
1918 Erfurt WW1 Luger. I can't see much as far as details, but many WW1 guns found their way into WW2 or police service. External #'s appear matching, magazine numbers are unknown. I'm guessing that the holster is a US GI .45 shoulder holster converted over for web belt carry. Others may be able to shed light on the stampings on the holster, but I'm doubting that there were any German officers wearing that one on their belts.
Figgur' around $750 to a thousand $ tops based on what I see, of course depending on what side of the gun case you happen to be standing on...I'm not seeing anything particularly unusual, just a nice bit of Martial history.
Of course better pictures always help.
dju

[DavidJayUden]

Kind'of seems like we're all sitting around on Sunday morning waiting for Luger questions...
dju

[Ron Smith]

Dave,

Had a family barbeque yesterday. I had more than my share of a bottle of good Cabernet, so now I'm just sitting around, period.