mawkie
C&R Whisperer
-Another hard-to-find German navy luger find. This time a 1940 S/42 Mauser that was issued to the Baltic (Ostsee) fleet. I've paired it with a KM marked holster that wasn't supposed to still be in the collection (more on that later). Nearly all matching, with just the magazine number off by 20 (6448 vs mag # 6428). What's unusual about this puppy is a small fouled anchor mark next to the SN on the barrel extension and a pair of anchors where I would expect to find the last two digits of the SN on the grips.
-The auction house had this described a "professionally refinished" but I can't see any signs of it. There's crisp marks and edge wear at the high points where you would expect them to be from holster wear. The front strap finish is definitely thinner than the rest of the receiver. The auction house didn't photograph the Baltic fleet property number which made me nervous. But pulling out Dave Molchen's reference work, Navy Lugers 1904 to 1940, it was listed so I felt confident that I could make a play for it, not a fake. In the end it came to me for about $750 under what I would have called market value. Yay!
-As to the holster, it makes for a longish story. Last year I was on the search for a Kriegsmarine holster for my 1929 DWM Navy Luger. An auction house had a nice tidy pile of Luger holsters with two KM examples. One nicer than the other. So I put in an absentee bid on the nicer one for $750 and sat back to watch online. Meanwhile I bookmarked the less condition holster just in case I didn't get my first choice. Bidding starts and I see that someone in the room was high bidder on my first choice for $750 (this can happen). So I figured I had better go for Plan B, which I got for $550. Then I come to find out that "floor bidder" was a member of the auction house bidding on my behalf! So now I have two KM holsters. I attempted to sell Plan B later on but that fell through as interest was tepid and couldn't get anyone to come close to what it's worth. I mentioned this to somd_mustangs and God Bless him, he said "I'd hang onto it, you just might need it". And I took that sage advice to heart. So now Plan B has a proper home with this Mauser KM. Worked out just fine in the end!
-The Baltic Fleet O.3990 property number is close to the end with the highest recorded in Dave's book being O.4875 and there are only 6 examples listed between mine and that one. Seems that most of the 1940 dated KM examples went to the Nordsee (North Sea) Fleet. And even then there were only 2575 Mauser KM Lugers produced. So not easy to find.
-The auction house had this described a "professionally refinished" but I can't see any signs of it. There's crisp marks and edge wear at the high points where you would expect them to be from holster wear. The front strap finish is definitely thinner than the rest of the receiver. The auction house didn't photograph the Baltic fleet property number which made me nervous. But pulling out Dave Molchen's reference work, Navy Lugers 1904 to 1940, it was listed so I felt confident that I could make a play for it, not a fake. In the end it came to me for about $750 under what I would have called market value. Yay!
-As to the holster, it makes for a longish story. Last year I was on the search for a Kriegsmarine holster for my 1929 DWM Navy Luger. An auction house had a nice tidy pile of Luger holsters with two KM examples. One nicer than the other. So I put in an absentee bid on the nicer one for $750 and sat back to watch online. Meanwhile I bookmarked the less condition holster just in case I didn't get my first choice. Bidding starts and I see that someone in the room was high bidder on my first choice for $750 (this can happen). So I figured I had better go for Plan B, which I got for $550. Then I come to find out that "floor bidder" was a member of the auction house bidding on my behalf! So now I have two KM holsters. I attempted to sell Plan B later on but that fell through as interest was tepid and couldn't get anyone to come close to what it's worth. I mentioned this to somd_mustangs and God Bless him, he said "I'd hang onto it, you just might need it". And I took that sage advice to heart. So now Plan B has a proper home with this Mauser KM. Worked out just fine in the end!
-The Baltic Fleet O.3990 property number is close to the end with the highest recorded in Dave's book being O.4875 and there are only 6 examples listed between mine and that one. Seems that most of the 1940 dated KM examples went to the Nordsee (North Sea) Fleet. And even then there were only 2575 Mauser KM Lugers produced. So not easy to find.
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