DWM Luger from Turkey

[Ron Wood]

In my opinion, the gun is OK. The BUG proofs on some barrels are thin. For example, on 1902 Fat Barrel Lugers this is frequently encountered on 100% original guns. On this gun, the barrel numbers having "upset" borders and no halos is, in my opinion, legitimate for an early Luger. I have only seen the barred shield barrel inspector's mark on early commercial guns, 1900, 1902, 1906 and 1908. I have no documentation on this, but I surmise that it is the mark of a DWM inspector that approved a repaired/replaced barrel on a production piece and guns bearing this mark are factory original.

In the USA, most Model 1906 9mm Lugers are American Eagles, so a standard Commercial model is uncommon here. To a collector wanting to have representative examples of early commercial Lugers, I would think that a range of $3500-$4000 is not out of the question for an example in this condition (with the 9mm script magazine ).

P.S. I wish I had a box full of those DWM 480C truncated cone cartridges!