Totenkopf Etched DWM Parabellum

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by ithacaartist

This one is by far the most realistic looking, but I think this helps tip the scale to the B.S. side...

Agreed. Probably took a lot of effort to assemble all those 'historic' pics. Someone at PIA has a lot of time with nothing else to do.

Originally Posted by Ron Wood

Of that I have no doubt.

I could use a good picture of crossed Mosin-Nagant rifles, if you have one.

[Ben M.]

phony holster. not surprise.

[Maestro]

Originally Posted by kzullick

??????????

Ron could be referring to Cartman on South Park!

"Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" is the first episode of the animated television series South Park. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on August 13, 1997. The episode introduces child protagonists Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh and Kenny McCormick, who attempt to rescue Kyle's younger brother Ike from being abducted by aliens.

http://southpark.cc.com/full-episode...-an-anal-probe

[Maestro]

on a serious note though, PIA does state

The Death's Head (Totenkopf) is very rarely seen displayed in this manner and it was passed down two generations as taken from a guard by a member of the the U.S. Seventh Army's 45th Infantry Division on April 29th, 1945 upon the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp.

if there is provenance that this Luger was period etched (e.g. letter from USGI's family, etc), would it not have collector value as well?

[Maestro]

Originally Posted by Ben M.

phony holster. not surprise.

here's a typical concentration camp holster!

the TK is a "property mark", and not directly connected with the SS-TK Verbande. The originality of the actual stamp is undoubtably a fact, as it is shown in a picture from Bundesarchiv Koblenz. Shown on page 147 in "The P08 Luger Pistol" in the propaganda series. But of course, there will always be the opportunity for the fakers to add on, so most of the ones found today will probably be fakes.

[Maestro]

off topic, but for TK purposes, here's a machine pistole mag pouch with same TK marking

[Maestro]

close up of the TK (here's one for you Dave!)

[Maestro]

comparison of holster TKs and period picture from the above mentioned reference book

[alanint]

More foder for future Luger archeologists!

[SIGP2101]

Cracked slide??

[Patronen]

Originally Posted by Bill_in_VA

I got my Totenkopf Luger from Elvis, but a UFO abducted it from me.

Now why would they do that when they have their own already?

[MikeP]

A letter of provenance, even from the vet, is just a letter.

Proves nothing.

Spend some time around vets and you will get the picture.

Lots of stories improve with age.

[Ben M.]

way on the bottom of the sellers web page is a paper drawing of the art-work. nice to see they did it on paper before on the metal.

[siegersallee]

For anyone having trouble viewing this luger, this is a direct link to it:
PIA Luger.

A much more knowledgeable collector than myself warned me away from that site years ago.
He said: "...that guy has manufactured more lugers than Erfurt."

Whatever you do, don't look it in the eyes...

[Douglas Jr.]

Originally Posted by Ron Wood

Be thankful you were spared the anal probe.

PIA guys might be not so gentle....

[John Sabato]

If you want to get the URL for a Luger displayed on the PIA website, right click on the link and "open in a new window"... the actual URL will be displayed in the address box on the new window...

[hansfischer007]

.A couple of weeks back....got "the fever" to pick up a 1920s Era Commercial Luger....maybe in 7.65 Caliber......and called PIA.and had a long talk with one of the Reps......in our conversation he informed me that...."we don't buy Commercial Lugers...to us they are nothing better than door stops or paper weights ".....kind of shocked me to hear that attitude....so I asked about 1921 dated Military or Police....said they had none in stock.....then next day one was advertised on their site.......couple hours later sold.......I called up and asked what the selling price was........$2850.00....So I have just kinda taken them off my list of Dealers.....Anyway....just thought I would pass along this kinda strange conversation........Danke.......Hans Fischer

[alanint]

Interesting as well iis that there is finish wear directly on the skull itself, while the balance of the pistol is almost mint. It would seem that somebody tried to polish down the ridges of a recent engraving and did not want to cold blue the area afterwards.

The wear actually enhances the skull and looks completely out of place versus the balance of the gun.

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by MikeP

A letter of provenance, even from the vet, is just a letter.

Proves nothing.

The same is true for pictures. I looked at the Philly Ordnance site some time ago and noticed some clean looking German soldiers -

http://www.philaord.com/MP-40_MP-41.html

Turns out there was some spirited discussion about that pic on another forum - It's a couple of 're-enactors' holding replica MP-40's...

I adhere to Fox Mulder's philosophy..."Trust...No One"...

[alanint]

I've seen this photo before and have always considered it to be authentic.

These are French volunteers to the German army. Not all soldiers were filthy all the time. There was guard, garrison and occupation duty which did not involve combat.

Pictured is a scarse, MP38/40 transitional gun. Replicas do not come with early, slab-sided magazines or early, non ribbed magazine wells.

The negative is reversed so the MP40 is backwards. This is the only issue I see with this image.