Book on Police Unit Markings?

[Don M]

This is a survey. As many of you know, I have developed a database of over 1,000 unit marks from German police forces from the period 1900 to about 1936. To date, I have researched and published articles on the unit markings of Prussian police (Berlin Schupo, Landj�¤gerei, detective forces and Police Schools) and am currently researching and writing articles for Auto Mag on the Prussian Schupo outside Berlin. In the following months, I plan to address at least: Saxon police, Thuringian police, Bavarian police, police of the Hanseatic League Cities, Customs and Finance police and others as the data permits. I continue to accumulate data and, with each new topic, I invariably learn something that makes me want to update the information in previous articles.

Rather than enter what may be a never-ending cycle of revisions after completing the initial tranche of articles, I am thinking of updating the information from these articles and compiling it into a hopefully coherent book. My ideas about the book are still quite vague but I would want it to have two sections: a look-up table that would permit rapid identification of a mark and a section providing more history, background and data, similar to the articles I have been writing. The table could be used by someone who just wants to know what a mark means and the rest would be for the â??interested student.â?� A final chapter on unidentified marks will allow me to list everything from my database somewhere in the book. The working title is: â??German Police Unit Markings â?? 1900 to 1936.â?�

I know nothing about publishing a book and donâ??t know whether I will have the energy or interest once I have completed my agenda of articles and learn how much more work I would have to do. The most important thing I want to establish now is whether there would be any significant interest in such a book. If this produces a collective yawn, I wonâ??t waste any more time thinking about it.

I will very much appreciate the opinions of forum members.

[policeluger]

While the book idea peaks my interest, I feel collecting police Lugers are a small and somewhat over look section of the general Luger interest. I can't say for sure, but I feel that it was a lack of interest in police guns, and thus the lower price range, at least when I started out, that caught and kept my interest in Weimar police guns. I am not sure that there will be a population of collectors large enough to support sufficent sales to even break even, I would contact someone like Jan Stills and get his opinion....I however want a copy of you first printing, autographed of course....for what little it may be worth to you, and we discussed this before, my collection is open to you and your camera....best of luck

[Don M]

Howard,

I tend to share your assessment of the market for such a book. Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing how many people have downloaded my articles. While I have had a number of responses to them with comments, compliments and additional data, they certainly don't constitute evidence of widespread interest.

[Heinz]

Don, I would talk with Jan Still. I would certainly be interested. I believe the Police marketablity will increase greatly as their marks are more understood. Also with modern computerized printing small runs of manuscripts, I am told, are not as expensive as they once were. You could print up 500 copies in black and white and save 100 of them to trade off once people realized what they were :-)

[Dwight Gruber]

Originally posted by Heinz
You could print up 500 copies in black and white...

You might find it almost as cheap to do color.

--Dwight

[Marvin]

I would certainly be interested in getting a book dedicated to Markings for Police Lugers! I feel this is a fertile area to have more information. Once the information is available, more will come to realize the importance of these pistols. OF course, the downside is when folks start collecting these jistorical pistols, the prices will go up; good for selling, but bad for buying, LOL!

[the gunman]

I sure would love a copy

[policeluger]

Then again Don, it would be a labor of love, and you could never put a price on that...as always let us know if we can help....

[Schupo]

Don,

I would applaud a book specifically on German Polizei markings and I would certainly buy a copy. My thoughts are that this might be a very small market though. While you and I (and a few notable others) are interested in such arcane things, most people, I would suspect, would not be. I do think that desktop publishing might be the way for you to go. You could print on demand and not have a lot of money tied up in finished books waiting to be sold.

When I wrote my "Seitengewehr; History of the German Bayonet" book I opted to make a publishing deal with Roger Bender. That was a good decision for me but if you are going to publish it yourself I would put as little money into it up front as possible to determine what the market is. So, yes I would buy a copy and I think that Heinz is right about desktop publishing being the way to go.

I hope this is helpful.

George Wheeler

[John Sabato]

You can also look at publishing it as an E-book like the Luger e-books by Gerard Henrotin whose Luger animation graces our homepage... The book is encrypted so it can't be copied... you get to keep your royalties and fees...

You can publish and distribute the book all by yourself and delivery is made electronically so there is no publishing cost... investigate it, and I think you will find that it is a great way to publish a book for a niche market like ours.

[Don M]

I have avoided responding to each reply in order to not clutter this thread with my ramblings. However, I do want to thank each of you who has taken the time to reply. To date, the response seems to confirm that interest in police markings is confined to a very small part of the collector community; however, I will continue to consider the possibility of a book. For the time being, I'm fully consumed with completing my initial agenda of research and individual articles.

[wlyon]

Don Count on me for a copy. I think interest in this book would grow. Many of us want any luger reference. once it is printed. Bill

[suwanneetrader]

Don: You recently helped me identify my Berlin Police Luger and holster. I have built collections and then sold most of them for over 45 years. Mostly CW, Early US swords and Items by the Nathan Starr family, and Ojibwe Indian. We all know that, for the most part, Confederate items bring more than Yankee items. CW swords, for the most part, bring more than US Federal Period swords. Western Indian items, for the most part, bring more tha Northern (Woodland) Indian items. I know that I may have overused the phrase "For the most part", but alot of the exceptions have been because a book was written documentating the rarity of some previously low interest item. The guys that lost or were the meanest generate more interest. If you can document some of the Police Units who were Political and/or cooperated with Nazi persecution of minorities or who resisted Hitler or rounded-up people for the Gestapo, etc. would cause more people to buy your book just so they could ask a higher price for their item marked with the bad guys unit. Better yet if the number could be traced back to a highly decorated hero. What I'm trying to say is collectors buy books to not only make them more knowledgeable, but to make their items worth more. Well my 2 cents worth, or I hope it is worth reading you know opinions, everyone has one. Good Luck to you what ever you do. Richard an old retired guy in FL.

[Don M]

Richard,
I don't doubt for a minute that what you say is true. However, I deliberately chose the Weimar era (+/-) to avoid having to deal with the Nazis, even at the distance of 60+ years. I don't criticize those who have a genuine historical interest in the Nazi era. As George Santana said (approximately), "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it." However, I just don't want to mess with it. Don, an old retired guy in TX.