Test Eagle chaos

[Dwight Gruber]

Folks,


This line of thought had it beginning when I realized a discrepancy between the number of Test Eagles purchased and the number eventually sold as surplus. It has been weighing on me ever since. I have cherished opinions about the subject of the U.S. Test Eagles, as do many other collectors here. I have tried to consider this dispassionately as I reached my conclusion.


Many collectors will be unhappy with this. I know I am. If you want to refute it, please do so with facts and equivalent logic. Please. I really want to be proven wrong.


--Dwight


(The documents referenced were graciously provided by Clark Rickman from his 2011 exploration into the U.S. National Archives.)


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Copyright © Dwight Gruber 2022


Identification of the U.S Army test pistols DWM Old Model American Eagle Parabellums (Test Eagles) is of primary importance to U.S. collectors of Luger pistols.


The army ordered and received from DWM 1,000 Old Model pistols. This is thoroughly documented from official army communications and period correspondence.


Documentation of the serial numbers of the received pistols has not been found. Conventional Wisdom places the Test Eagle serial range as sns 6100-7100.




Published assertions of the range are in disagreement, e.g.:


Datig (1958) between sns 5000-11000 (presumptive, undocumented)


Jones (1959) lowest part of the AE serial range, lowest examples sns 2004, 2011 (presumptive, undocumented)


Kenyon (1969) “about” sns 6100-7100 source “U.S. Army archives” (undocumented) Reese (1976) sns 6099-7098 source “Bureau of Accounting” (undocumented)


Meadows (1993) 6000-7500 “approximate” (presumptive, undocumented)


Walter (1995) range “conventionally attributed” to be sns 6151-7150 (presumptive, undocumented)


Conclusion 1: There is no logical reason to prefer one published guess of the Test Eagle range over another. Guesswork cannot be accepted as fact, and so the validity of all of them must be rejected




Conventional Wisdom describes the physical characteristics of Test Eagles as:


1. American Eagle stamped on chamber


2. No proofs


3. No GERMANY stamp


4. Takedown serial numbers located on the right, round end


Answers:


1. The American Eagle is a common identifier for U.S. market Parabellums between sns 2002-69000.


2. Old Model American Eagles are universally reported without proofs (one report is proof marked).


3. A range of old Model American Eagles from (approximately) sn 5778 to sn 7976 are universally reported without GERMANY stamp. (The range is approximate due to the absence of immediately adjacent lower and higher reports.)


4. From (approximately) sn 6000 to sn 8977 the takedown serial number is reported variously on the right round end (usually), left face, and left underside.


Conclusion 2: There is no single set of physical characteristics which uniquely identifies a Test Eagle.




After 1904 the Test Eagles were condemned and sold from army service.


1903: (prior to condemnation) 3 pistols were sold to Lieutenant Gad Morgan, 7th Infantry, Ft. Leavenworth Kansas (documentation: Ordinance Dept. document 23377-219 November 30, 1903 original request, and 2nd and 3rd endorsements authorizing sale).


1904: 50 pistols were sent to A.H. Funke (New York arms dealer) in exchange for 50 9mm Cartridge Counter Parabellums (documentation: Ordinance Dept. document 23377-241 1st Endorsement June 12, 1904, attesting the pistols will be shipped within the week)


1907: 780 serviceable pistols sold at auction to Frances Bannerman (serial number source: “U.S. Military Automatic Pistols,” Edward Scott Meadows, 1993 p.306. Source documentation is currently unknown and has not been retrievable). The published serial numbers of this sale are considered by many collectors to be the “gold standard” of Test Eagle authenticity.


1910: 163 unserviceable pistols inventoried at the Springfield Armory (documentation: Ordinance Dept. document 23377-296 January 25-July 8 1910 , original through 8th endorsements, regarding return to serviceability for eventual sale).


1910: 306 unserviceable pistols inventoried at the Rock Island Arsenal (documentation: Ordinance Dept. document 23377-304 June 23-November 12, 1910 1st through 3rd endorsements, regarding return to serviceability for eventual sale).


The 1903, 1904, 1907, and 1910 numbers add up to 1,302 pistols. None of the contemporary Ordinance Department or correspondence in the U.S. National Archives available for examination, records any additional associated pistol purchases. This means that one or more of the published sets of numbers must be questioned.


The thorough documentation of the original purchase, the 1903 sale, 1904 trade, and the 1910 are sufficiently convincing to be considered as axioms. This calls into question the published data of the 1907 Bannerman sale.




Corollary documentation reveals the actual serial numbers of 14 pistols issued from the Test Eagle inventory:


The usage report (undated) of Orlando G. Palmer, 2nd. Lieutant U.S. Cavalry, lists his five issue pistols by serial number: sns 6167, 6361, 6541, 6601, and 6602.


Ordinance Dept. document 23377 Enc. 41, Dec. 11, 1901, lists eight pistols by serial number sent to certain military posts for test: sns 6339, 6340, 6341, 6342, 6343, 6344, 6345, and 6346.


The report of Capt. William H. Littlebrant, U.S. 12th Cavalry, documents pistol sn 6282 failure to fire (U.S. Cavalry Assn. Journal July 1902, p.351).


Sns 6167, 6282, 6339, 6342, 6344, 6345, 6346, 6361, 6541, 6601, and 6602 have been reported to the Commercial Database. The pistols of 2nd. Lieutenant Palmer’s report fall within the published Bannerman range.




The range of pistols without the GERMANY mark has been established by reports to the Commercial Database. Sn 6345 has been pictured without the GERMANY mark (sale information, Carol Watson’s Orange Coast Auction, October 2018).


The documented Test Eagles fall near the middle of the no-GERMANY range. IF the absence of the GERMANY mark is characteristic of the whole of the Test Eagle delivery, THEN it must be concluded that the 1,000 Test Eagles fall within the approximate range sn 5778 to sn 7976. (conclusions 1 and 2 still apply).


The Bannerman auction serial numbers published by Meadows cannot be independently verified by examination of any source document, unlike the other number sets. Logically then, this number set must be accepted as the source of the erroneous pistol count. Therefore, the Bannerman auction serial numbers presented in Meadows can no longer be accepted as certification of Test Eagle authenticity.


The conclusion is inescapable: until actual serial number source documentation of the Bannerman sale appears, pistols within this published range can no longer claim ipso facto to be Test Eagles. The only serial numbers which can now lay factual claim to be being Test Eagles are those listed in the Palmer report, Littlebrant report, and Ordinance Dept. issue report.