An interesting DH Luger

[RyanE]

SOLD - 1918 Double-Date Efurt Luger - Deathshead

5/20/22 - This is a very interesting Erfurt Luger. It was originally issued to the Imperial German military in 1918. It has the proper Imperial proofs throughout. As evidenced by the 1918/1920 double date, this is a government property marking and indicates that this gun remained in government...

www.legacy-collectibles.com

Interesting DH Luger that just sold (for way too much money). I always assumed we would never see a '1920' marked SS rework, but I should have known better. The Army reluctantly handed over some old rifles to the SS, so why not some old Lugers too? It's hard to see the weak DH stamp, but I think it's a legit Type 2.

It's a typical late SS rework, and the 1920 is really the only thing interesting about it. Too bad the toggle is totally mismatched, though I would not be shocked if it shows up with a "matching" toggle one day.

 

[mrfarb]

It’s interesting that it wasn’t scrubbed as many are.

 

[Absolut]

It’s interesting that it wasn’t scrubbed as many are.

Exactly this. 1920 stamp was not a year stamp, but a Reichswehr property stamp. Keeps me scratching my head why it wasn't scrubbed as on others.

Edit: interesting to know to see there is now an evolution in the description of those. Finally others aside of this forum dare to name them what we think they are. Seems the arguments we brought up did let some people change their minds.

 

[RyanE]

Seems the arguments we brought up did let some people change their minds.

Strong emphasis on "some".

 

[Warrior1354]

Strong emphasis on "some".

So you mean to tell me these aren't for a mobile flamethrower unit then? I was so hoping that conclusion would be true lol.

 

[Philip]

Edit: interesting to know to see there is now an evolution in the description of those. Finally others aside of this forum dare to name them what we think they are. Seems the arguments we brought up did let some people change their minds.

In all fairness there were many who understood these were SS reworked Lugers for quite a long time. I for one certainly connected the dots by the early 90s due to seeing enough K98k conversions with the same DH S marking and the crown N proofing. I may have been somewhat in the wilderness 20 years prior to that with no hard suspicion either way but always tended to reject the various WWI and Freikorps unit theories. All that said I do applaud the systematic and fairly scholarly approach taken on this forum to present the “case” for the DH Luger, which is not even arguable IMO, the Ku likewise and the depot reworks. It is very important to keep an open mind when usual things present themselves as we have not seen it all and never will. Once we think we know it all we are no different from the “old” closed minded fanboy following collectors that some poke fun at.

 

[Absolut]

Good to know at least in here this is an established theory. So let’s now just give the old Luger collectors some time (to change their mind or die with an unchanged mind) and it won‘t only be in here where (most?) believe in it.

 

[Philip]

I don’t want to give the impression that I had all of the DH information figured out 30 plus years ago as that is not the case. I’ve learned at lot of specifics from the published information in the SS refurb volume of the 98k series published a bit ago and from the excellent posts on this forum.
What the earliest writers got right (Fred Datig, circa late 1950s) was these were most likely SS and reworked at and or for KZ guards, which of course is only 1/2 true. Later “theories crept in with no real basis other than the a list of formations that used a skull, which many did going back to the 1750s!
I can only re-state the obvious by saying in every category of firearms collecting and all other collecting agendas and cells tend to develop. These often form around a personality and that’s where objectivity starts going south. The way information can be shared worldwide along with excellent photos and data collection by serial number (these last 20 years or so) has gone a long way to overcoming these limitations of the past.