Cross in Shield Enigma

drbuster · 03-14-2010, 04:29 PM

It's almost a month since I posted this Cross in Shield enigma and interest and/or knowledge of Swiss luger history seems not to be out there. Firstly, let me apologize to Vittorio Bobba with respect to mentioning of the double Muhlemann proof. He actually shows a picture of C+S 1906 luger #15140 with the double proof on page 109. He opines that earlier Swiss lugers, between the Vogelsang to Muhlemann transition had only Geneva Crosses stamped on the left side of the receiver. Why the double Muhlemann stamp occurred is still left to conjecture. The different sized fonts is definitely not mentioned in his book. In 1909, the Swiss officially changed its national crest marking from the Swiss Cross in Sunburst to Cross in Shield. The first lugers to bear this crest marking started with serial 10001 to 12000 (1909, 2000 pieces). These were said to come directly from DWM finished and with small fonted numbers. Later lugers above serial #12000 were sent directly to Waffenfabrik Bern in the white and were finished and numbered there. The last lot of these lugers finished up at serial #15215 in 1914 when Waffenfabrik Bern started new production at serial #15216. It is difficult, if not impossible to say where and when larger fonted serial numbers started and ended, or if they were intermittent. Perhaps a data base could be created from Forum members providing information from their C+S lugers. Will this "enigma" ever be solved?

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03-14-2010, 04:29 PM	#1
drbuster User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: San Mateo, California Posts: 1,432 Thanks: 2 Thanked 71 Times in 56 Posts	It's almost a month since I posted this Cross in Shield enigma and interest and/or knowledge of Swiss luger history seems not to be out there. Firstly, let me apologize to Vittorio Bobba with respect to mentioning of the double Muhlemann proof. He actually shows a picture of C+S 1906 luger #15140 with the double proof on page 109. He opines that earlier Swiss lugers, between the Vogelsang to Muhlemann transition had only Geneva Crosses stamped on the left side of the receiver. Why the double Muhlemann stamp occurred is still left to conjecture. The different sized fonts is definitely not mentioned in his book. In 1909, the Swiss officially changed its national crest marking from the Swiss Cross in Sunburst to Cross in Shield. The first lugers to bear this crest marking started with serial 10001 to 12000 (1909, 2000 pieces). These were said to come directly from DWM finished and with small fonted numbers. Later lugers above serial #12000 were sent directly to Waffenfabrik Bern in the white and were finished and numbered there. The last lot of these lugers finished up at serial #15215 in 1914 when Waffenfabrik Bern started new production at serial #15216. It is difficult, if not impossible to say where and when larger fonted serial numbers started and ended, or if they were intermittent. Perhaps a data base could be created from Forum members providing information from their C+S lugers. Will this "enigma" ever be solved?