1900 Bulgarian #20001

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This is the Luger was riding in the Juan Canedo leather case and accompanied by a Spanish language DWM New Model manual. It's an Old Model Bulgarian, produced in late 1903 or early 1904 according to Sturgess. This gun appeared to be frame #20001, rebarreled to 9mm and then later rebarreled again with Bulgarian barrel #20941 (at least that's what Julia believed it to be), but an inspection of the internals showed that the entire receiver and barrel assembly (plus the side plate) are from #20941, and the frame and toggle train are #20001 or matching to #20001.

Besides being an elusive 1900 Bulgarian, what excites me about this gun (at least about the frame) is that it has a 50% chance of being the very first 1900 Bulgarian, and the very first production (clarified by Dwight Gruber) Luger produced with a safe/fire indicator (ОГЪНЪ for "Fire") stamped into the metal rather than an area polished or milled clean at the lower position of the safety lever. Sturgess indicates in a general sense that the 1900 Bulgarians are in the range of 20000 to 21000 serial number wise, but in a couple of places mentions 20001-21000. This is the lowest serial recorded in Dwight's commercial database and in the list I maintain at http://luger.gunboards.com/showthrea...7-found-so-far.

I'm not a great judge of original finish, but the interior of the gun looks good to me (in the white). The exterior is far from perfect, but I believe that if any touch-ups were applied they were done long ago as the front and back straps and trigger guard are browning. The gun has an un-numbered takedown lever (which I assume to be a replacement) and significant discoloration on the left side of the frame which extends to the side plate, leading me to believe that the receiver/barrel/sideplate switcheroo with #20941 has been in place for a long time.

This Luger came from the Friedrich-Wilhelm Dauphin Collection in Germany, and several shots below show the rather tiny import mark on the trigger guard now being applied by Simpson. If you want to read Julia's writeup on the gun, it is available at http://jamesdjulia.com/item/3155-394/. The gun didn't make the minimum asking price during the auction itself, but I put in a followup bid a couple of weeks ago that was accepted.

Thoughts and comments are welcome, as well as speculation on how this gun was matched with the Argentinian case and Spanish manual, and when. If you'd like to see any additional pictures, I'll do my best to capture the requested features.

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More pics...

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Some interior shots -

[John Sabato]

NICE! What a shame that Simpsons LTD had to import mark such a find...

[DonVoigt]

We'll just have to live with the import markings; at least it is not a "billboard"!

[Diver6106]

I think all the naysayers over the small import mark are over rated. I think it definitely reduced the value in my mind... by mabe $0.50. But I see the $1,000 to $2,000+ market as far too inflated. But time will tell as the older collectors with large collections pass them off. I have a P.38 with a series of marks including export & import to the U.S. And it all tells a history of the pistol.

[Ron Wood]

That is a rare and extremely collectible Luger in any condition, and this one is in far better condition than is common for most known examples. In spite of the mis-matched upper it is truly a significant example and you are to be congratulated on acquiring this piece of Luger history.
Ron