Mauser 1940 Eagle N

[StillRunning]

Hi,

I'm in possession of this 1940 Mauser Eagle N Luger. Can anyone shed light on this model? Are they rare, is there a demand for them, what kind of price do they bring, those kind of questions. It belongs to my older brother. He was given it by a family friend, about 20 years ago, who has since passed away. I don't know anything else about it's past. Thanks in advance for your help.

Andy

[DonVoigt]

Probably more "scarce" than rare, there is a demand.
Value/pricing depends on many variables, like is it matching, any flaws in the finish, where, how and when you sell it.

The pictures are a little fuzzy and won't enlarge.

You might try again and post them on the board server so they can be enlarged a little.
Maybe use a camera if these are phone picts.

[StillRunning]

Thank you so much for the quick response. Will take some pics with a camera. How do I post them to the board server?

[ithacaartist]

Welcome to the forum, Andy. There are stickies that guide you through taking and posting pics in the New Members section. The FAQ is excellent and current, well worth a download of the .pdf and a good read. Enjoy your Luger adventure. Technically, since it's your bro's pistol, I'm wondering how contagious Luger-itis actually is... One succumbs upon the first purchase, rather, just after the first purchase--when the pursuit of the second Luger begins. But if it's genetic, you may be out of luck!

[SteveM]

It's a 1940 Mauser Banner commercial with strawed small parts; safety lever, trigger, magazine release, takedown lever and probably the ejector. It should be rust blued and the barrel is most likely salt blued. There is probably an E/N on the front of the sight block as well. The serial number should have a w suffix. It would be nice to see better pictures of the gun both sides, pics of the mags and the bases would be appreciated as well. That's a nice Luger, wouldn't mind having it in my collection.

BTW, if you are storing it in that egg crate case, please don't. Those cases are notorious for ruining guns, get a bore store or something similar. Also, I wouldn't shoot it either. If it has all matching numbers on the small parts and one breaks, the value of that Luger is greatly reduced.

[mrerick]

Is the pistol in .30 Luger caliber? Is it a "u" or "v" suffix serial number?

There is a range of commercial Mauser Lugers known which were analyzed in Joop van der Kant and Don Hallock's book on Mauser Lugers. I have one dated in 1938. The receivers might have been from spare stock and assembled into commercial pistols at a time when the factory was saturated with work for military contracts. My pistol has a Crown/U Oberndorf proof house commercial proof. There are not many of these pistols out there, but the demand isn't particularly large either.

There really is not enough detail in the first photos to help with much analysis.

Use the "Go Advanced" button to attach your photos. Make them 1024 pixels on the widest or tallest axis. Take your pictures in shaded indirect sunlight and use a camera that can provide sharp focus.

[StillRunning]

Trying again with pictures I took on a camera.

The numbers all match unless I am missing something. There is no suffix on the serial number. My brother says that it is 7.65mm, I don't know that for a fact. Thanks for the heads up on the egg crate case, my Dad told me the same thing. Didn't realize how bad my first pictures were. I think I have some shoes in the background of one of them. Five more pics to follow this message. Thanks for all your help.

[StillRunning]

Five more

[DonVoigt]

Your luger does have a suffix, "w" ; clearly visible in the picture of the front of the frame.

Looks nice but for that single "wart" on the left side of the frame; what is it?

[StillRunning]

Sorry, I assumed a suffix would immediately follow the digits and be in the same font. That’s what I get for assuming. I’m not sure what that wart is. There is no roughness to it. By that I’m mean you can run your finger over it and it’s a smooth transition from the bluing.

[guns3545]

Andy,

You've got a really nice 1940 Banner Commercial. And yes, in this SN range, they were 7.65 mm.

In 1940 there was a transition in proof stamps from Crown over U to Eagle over N, so you see these poofs interspersed.

Also interspersed in this SN range were the Swedish contract guns. and a few Police which are identified by the presence of a sear safety and their caliber being 9mm.

Hope this helps.

John

[JimD]

Beautiful gun. I'd be proud to own that.

[mrerick]

It's very unusual to find a pistol with two magazines that are so close in number. A series of pistols must have been sold to one buyer, and the magazines interchanges at their factory or installation.

This is a narrow and interesting range of Mauser Luger sales history. I believe that Joop and Don had access to the factory sales records that Jon Speed has in Germany when they wrote their book. Those are the only chance there would be of identifying the actual customer that bought them from Mauser.

Andy, another nice thing about these is that they were still being strawed, unlike military issue pistols after 1937. They are the only Mauser Lugers still being done in this attractive finish.

The "P" stamped on the left side of the frame may indicate that this was originally sold to the Swiss, and then privatized. The mark looks like their privatization mark... I do know that a very small number of Lugers were sold to the Swiss commercially. These are quite rare and more valuable. W&F was making their own Lugers at that time in their cost reduced version M1929 pattern. A year or so ago, one of the guns sold to Switzerland surfaced and was sold on Consignment over at Simpson's. They are mentioned in Bobba's book.

In any case, you have a very collectible pistol. Take good care of it.

[StillRunning]

I'm am grateful to all of you who have posted on this thread and shared your knowledge with me.

One more picture based off of SteveM's comment above. Upon further examination there is a mark on the front of sight block. Even under magnification it's difficult to make out. This is the best I could do picture wise.

mrerick - I'm not trying to be dense with this question, where on the left side of the frame do you see a P? I feel foolish asking this but can't for the life of me find it.

[Norme]

Hi Andy,
Welcome to the forum! Despite what you brother says, the serial number does have a suffix. Mauser only applied the suffix on the frame front, not on the barrel.
Regards, Norm

[tharpo]

That is an E/N on the front sight. My 1940 Commercial Banner has the same stamp.

Tom

[DonVoigt]

The "wart" is the spot- what ever it is on the left of the frame; from the picture I can't tell if it is just missing finish, raised, depressed or what ever- some kind of "spot".

[StillRunning]

This 'wart' has been there as long as I've had possession, around 2001/2002. It's not raised, it's not depressed and as far as I can tell there is no rust.

[rhuff]

The "wart" looks as though, perhaps, something caustic dropped on the finish and removed the bluing in that area. It could have happened very quickly, and even though it was wiped off quickly, the damage was done.......just a thought.

[mrerick]

In fact, the "wart" is what I thought looked like a "P" in the originally posted photo.

(I also moved the second pistol posted to this thread to it's own thread - please don't hijack threads, but post your own!).

Marc