1914/1920 DWM....What to do???

[Don M]

David,

The police unit marks are very interesting. If you go to this post, it will refer you to a site containing an article I wrote on Weimar Police School Unit Marks: http://forum.lugerforum.com/showthre...threadid=11898 You will see that marks PS11a and -b are the same as yours except the weapon number.

PS11 was a key example of the change during the 1920s in the designation for Prussian police schools (Polizeischulen) and yours is the second such example. The original mark on your pistol was P.N.195, Polizeischule Niederschlesien, weapon no. 195, in accordance with the Prussian marking order of 5 April 1922. This school was located in the city of Frankenstein. At some point, probably early in the 1920s, the police schools began to be referred to by the city in which they were located, rather than the Province (e.g., Niederschlesien) they apparently served. As a consequence the marking practice was changed to the format P.X., where "X." is an abbreviation for the city in which the school was located. As you will note, the weapon number remained the same.

The earlier mark was stamped in the reverse of the direction specified in the 1922 marking order suggesting it may have been applied before the order was issued. It appears from your photo that "P.N." was lined out when it was restamped, as it was on the other Luger.

You may have a Frankenstein but I certainly don't consider it a monster! Congratulations on owning a pistol that has history writ in steel.