Need help identifying Luger. Please

[creature7]

Originally Posted by mrerick

Hi James and welcome to the forum.

You have a 1937 Mauser made Luger. It is likely rust blued with strawed parts.

Post good evenly lit (outdoor indirect light, no flash) pictures showing closeups of the serial number with suffix letter in front of the trigger on the frame, and of the base of the aluminum bottom magazine.

The bakelite base magazine is valuable, particularly since it matches all 1941 and 1942 made Mauser lugers. Perhaps $250

Simpsons is selling a holster marked like yours made by Karl Böcker. He's asking $500 retail.

There were not many 1937 Strawed and Rust Blued Lugers made, and they are from just the first couple of months of that year - a year when they transitioned to salt blued finishes. $2000 or so with a non-matched magazine. Add another $750 with one matched properly.

That all makes this one more rare and more valuable... particularly if the aluminum base magazine is matching.

Collector to collector prices are about 30% less than retail.

If finances are an issue for your grandmother, you really need to consult someone. Start with some of the senior citizen offices at a county level and state offices for the aging for references.

I'm not sure if there's a letter or not but there IS a mark. It looks kind of like a bird almost. Here's a pic:



There's another number in between that mark and the serial on the bottom. It almost looks like "8,81" I can't tell if it's a comma or a partial number in between the two eights. Here's a pic:



You might have to save the pic on your PC in order to zoom in on it and see what I'm talking about.

I don't think the magazine is matching. Here is a pic of the base plate: