1920 Commercial model markings

unspellable · 03-11-2003, 08:16 AM

I have never seen a real definition of what constitutes a 1920 commercial. This leaves me free to make up my own. At the end of WWI DWM found themselves with a large stock of components on hand. They assembled these and sold them on the commercial market. Hence they were "new" unused guns, built of military spec parts but never having been owned by the military or carrying any military markings. They would have a military type serial number, commercial proofs, no military inspection marks. This is what I would regard as a 1920 commercial. I might make an exception to the mitary markings if it can be established they never left the DWM works with the markings one them.

There was also a cottage industry engaged in refurbishing ex-military pistols. These pistols will have military proof and inspection marks either present or ground off. They are more likley to be mismatched. I regard them as military surplus.

It can be difficult to establish in the case of any single pistol, but where it can be established, I maintain that if the military once owned it then it's military surplus, even if refurbished and commercially marked, but if it was built fro DWM's stock of mil spec parts and went diretly from them to market, then it's a 1920 commercial.

One clue is the chamber date. The DWM 1920 commercials will have it very cleanly ground off so that it's difficult to tell that it was ground off. The military surplus stuff will have the date more crudely ground off or in some cases still present.

In 1923 DWM resumed manufacture of commercial Parabellums on a small scale, this is the 1923 commercial model, not overly common today.

This was an unsettled period in the history of the Parabellum, any rule you can come up with will have its exceptions.

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03-11-2003, 08:16 AM	#3
unspellable User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Iowa Posts: 768 Thanks: 0 Thanked 19 Times in 11 Posts	I have never seen a real definition of what constitutes a 1920 commercial. This leaves me free to make up my own. At the end of WWI DWM found themselves with a large stock of components on hand. They assembled these and sold them on the commercial market. Hence they were "new" unused guns, built of military spec parts but never having been owned by the military or carrying any military markings. They would have a military type serial number, commercial proofs, no military inspection marks. This is what I would regard as a 1920 commercial. I might make an exception to the mitary markings if it can be established they never left the DWM works with the markings one them. There was also a cottage industry engaged in refurbishing ex-military pistols. These pistols will have military proof and inspection marks either present or ground off. They are more likley to be mismatched. I regard them as military surplus. It can be difficult to establish in the case of any single pistol, but where it can be established, I maintain that if the military once owned it then it's military surplus, even if refurbished and commercially marked, but if it was built fro DWM's stock of mil spec parts and went diretly from them to market, then it's a 1920 commercial. One clue is the chamber date. The DWM 1920 commercials will have it very cleanly ground off so that it's difficult to tell that it was ground off. The military surplus stuff will have the date more crudely ground off or in some cases still present. In 1923 DWM resumed manufacture of commercial Parabellums on a small scale, this is the 1923 commercial model, not overly common today. This was an unsettled period in the history of the Parabellum, any rule you can come up with will have its exceptions.