1937 S/42 Help with ID

In its present condition, it is a valuable heirloom. If you engrave it, it will lose most of its value. Engraved, polished and otherwise altered lugers are a "dime a dozen" but unaltered lugers are "scarce as hen's teeth" (I am suffering from a cliche bug today).


Many owners seem to have chromed, engraved soc sec number or service number, or reblued their old lugers. They appear all the time at shows and in junk gun piles. Yours, on the other hand, is a prize of originality that your heirs will thank you many times over for NOT engraving or messing up.


Congratulations. I suspect your 1937 date, Mauser-made (that is what the S/42 means), luger has a script suffix letter on the front of the frame below the barrel. Look closely. Don't shoot this gun unless you use substitute grips because the right grip has a fragile rib on the inside and the left grip likes to chip (old walnut--use new substitute grips). The mag has value even thoug it is cracked and especially if it is orig to the pistol (look at serial number).


Dave