1913 DWM P.08 help...Now with pics!

[Don M]

Thanks for posting the photos which are really pretty good. The fact that the pistol once had a sear safety indicates it belonged in 1933-4 to the Schupo of Essen assigned to precinct duty (Revierpolizei). The fact that it was removed suggests, however, that it was reassigned to the military sometime after that, perhaps as early as 1935. If you replace the sear safety, you may destroy some of the history of the gun. An intact sear safety would be evidence that the gun remained in use by the police through WWII.

The lack of an inventory number following the S.D.I is very uncommon but not unheard of. The marking is probably Type 3 as defined in HWIS (conforming to the 1932 Prussian marking instructions) and the lack of an inventory number may indicate there was uncertainty about its future use - police or military. Other examples of S.D.I markings may be found in Table 7-2 of HWIS.

A very interesting pistol. I am glad you took the plunge!