New Luger owner requesting help...

[Scott561]

Hello.
I am a new member to this forum so please forgive me if I ask questions that are obvious to most.

My father has just passed his Luger on to me after having it since the 1970's. He had purchased it from my uncle whom I have little contact with now. The story is that it was taken from a dead tank commander during WWII by his father. I have coveted the gun for many years now and am not interested in selling it or anything as it is primarily a sentimental link to my father. I would however like to have some idea of value for insurance purposes. The main purpose of my inquiry to you is to learn more about the history of the pistol.

I have tried to uncover some information about it by purchasing a book (Standard Catalog of Luger – Aaron Davis) and by reading comments on this forum, but to be honest I am coming away more confused than anything. I am having difficulty pinning down an exact model using the book’s trees as it comes close to some models but not quite right.

• The toggle is marked as a DWM but the year seems to be 1941 which confuses me.
• There seems to be a bird type stamp on the toggle section that seems to differ a bit from the other images I have seen.
• The gun appears to be in great condition with most of it's bluing intact.
• The serial numbers all seem to match (to the point that I have been courageous enough to disassemble it) although there seems to be a different number on the trigger.
• The wooden grips appear original and have the last two numbers of the serial number stamped into them.
• The extractor has the word GELADEN stamped into the left side.
• There is a holster and two magazines for the gun. One of the magazines (shown) has what appears to be a plastic bottom. My father will be sending the holster and the wooden bottomed magazine soon.

I am including several photos with this post. My father is a professional photographer so the nice image with the holster is his while the others are my amateurish efforts.

I would greatly appreciate any knowledge you might be able to provide to me regarding my new weapon.

Thank you