help valuing 1917 artillery

Sal confluentus · 03-02-2014, 11:13 AM

Again - thanks David and Jerry for helping me understand this pistol. I removed the grips and looked inside - couldn't find numbers. what I think I could see was a script "l". The "l" is the suffix on the serial number. So, I suspect that is consistent with other numbers. The front sight is not fine tunable and all numbers on the rear sight match - which does not have the fine adjustment marks. As near as I can tell, I'm the 4th owner of this weapon: the German officer it was issued to, my wife's cousin, wife's uncle, and now me. It ended up with me because no one else in the family has any interest in firearms. So, it hasn't been in the collector circuit, and any modifications would have been done by the German Army. And honestly, I think the first owner was some kind of medical officer who never took it out of his desk drawer.

It's been a fun sidebar to do some detective work on this pistol. It's really neat. I wouldn't sell it except that I really am not a collector and I have another from my grandfather - a man i actually knew well- and I have an attachment to his pistol. Grandpa's is closer to "shooter" grade although still all matching except the barrel was replaced in a military factory repair - at least I think so based on proof marks on the barrel and the fact that the no's on the barrel don't match any other numbers. In any case, Grandpa's has seen some duty - just like Grandpa. And it's fun to shoot.

03-02-2014, 11:13 AM	#6
Sal confluentus New User Join Date: Mar 2014 Posts: 4 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Again - thanks David and Jerry for helping me understand this pistol. I removed the grips and looked inside - couldn't find numbers. what I think I could see was a script "l". The "l" is the suffix on the serial number. So, I suspect that is consistent with other numbers. The front sight is not fine tunable and all numbers on the rear sight match - which does not have the fine adjustment marks. As near as I can tell, I'm the 4th owner of this weapon: the German officer it was issued to, my wife's cousin, wife's uncle, and now me. It ended up with me because no one else in the family has any interest in firearms. So, it hasn't been in the collector circuit, and any modifications would have been done by the German Army. And honestly, I think the first owner was some kind of medical officer who never took it out of his desk drawer. It's been a fun sidebar to do some detective work on this pistol. It's really neat. I wouldn't sell it except that I really am not a collector and I have another from my grandfather - a man i actually knew well- and I have an attachment to his pistol. Grandpa's is closer to "shooter" grade although still all matching except the barrel was replaced in a military factory repair - at least I think so based on proof marks on the barrel and the fact that the no's on the barrel don't match any other numbers. In any case, Grandpa's has seen some duty - just like Grandpa. And it's fun to shoot.