1913 Erfurt: pulled the trigger

[siegersallee]

I have my first Erfurt!!!

Saturday, at the Eastman Gunshow in Norcross, GA, I met up with a collector from whom I purchased a 1913 Erfurt.

Details:
1) 1913
2) SN: 1229 -no letters
3) LHS frame: The 3 Gothic letters topped by crowns are: D U Y --I've not been able to get info on what this means.
4) All of the proof marks are present inside and out.
4) All matching numbers -inside and out.
5) Mag does not match but is period correct.
6) Grips do match and screews are stamped.
7) Barrel bore is pristine.


1) minor repair to the underside of the rail on the RHS.
I have tried to capture this in one of the pics. Just look under the rail around the trigger area: a solderd repair.
2) there is a discoloration in the metal on the LHS touching the top of the "1" in the SN --NorthWest of the "1".

I paid $1100.00.

Regards,
Richard

[siegersallee]

Here are more pics...

[alanint]

Very nice find. Congratulations!!

[Ron Wood]

Originally Posted by siegersallee

1) minor repair to the underside of the rail on the RHS.
I have tried to capture this in one of the pics. Just look under the rail around the trigger area: a solderd repair.

That is not a "repair". Your Luger is an early military that was manufactured without a hold open device. It had been eliminated as a cost cutting measure when the Luger was first produced for the German army. Later the lack of a hold open was found not to be a good idea so it was reintroduced and many of the earlier production guns were retrofitted with the hold open. The "repair" on your Erfurt is an arsenal retrofit of the hold open and you can see a small acceptance mark next to the pin.

A beautiful Erfurt by the way. You did very well.

[padredan]

congrats on your first purchase. I to think you have chosen well. enjoy it.

[drbuster]

Good honest 1913 Erfurt at a very reasonable price. You would never have gotten such a great price from a dealer.

[siegersallee]

hi Ron,

Thanks for your post and information about the factory "hold open" accounting for the soldered spot on the rail.

Now I am even happier about the Erfurt: what I thought to be a negative, is really a positive.

Many thanks,
Richard

[GySgt1811]

Richard,

From following your posts I know you've wanted this for awhile. It looks like your patience has paid off. Congratulations! Very nice piece. Are you going to pop a cap or two, or make it the centerfold of a Luger shrine?

(And I'm still curious about your way-cool avatar.)

Best regards

John C.

[siegersallee]

Hi John,

Yes sir, I do intend to pop a couple at least, I've gotta make sure the thing still works.

My avatar is Leutnant Hans von Keudell.

He was a early ace of the German Empire with 12 victories. Whilest serving in JASTA 27, he met an untimely end on 15 Feburary 1917.

The German war ministry used aces for propaganda on the home front during the war and created "sanke" cards (kinda like baseball cards) of these pilots to be inspirational.

Von Keudell's sanke card is below.

He is wearing a leutnant's uniform of the 3rd Uhlan (lancer) Regiment . He was serving with this unit at the start of the war and transferred to the Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches in June 1915.

I "fly" in an online WWI aerial combat simulator: Rise of Flight.
When I was looking for a suitable avatar for the my character, I stumbled across von Keudell.

Since I started using this avatar, I have read everything I could find about von Keudell and when I am flying my Albatros D.III, I really get into the character...though, my German still needs work.

Thank you for asking,
Hans...uh, I mean Richard

[GySgt1811]

Hans...uh, I mean Richard,

Thanks for the wonderful story! I see now why the Erfurt means so much.

(BTW, Did the D.III have the water-cooled Mercedes or the ubiquitous rotary? And, I must admit my thoughts run more to Douglas Bader and Josef Priller.)

danke,

Johann...uh, I mean John

[siegersallee]

Hi Johann,

The Albatros line of monocoque, plywood single-seater fighters, D.I, D.II, D.III, D.V, D.Va were all water cooled, Mercedes D.III 6 and 8 cylinder inline engines.

There is no relationship between the Mercedes designation of there engine with Albatros' designation of the plane.

One of the disquishing features between the early models (D.I-D.III) was the placement of the radiators (there were other differences).

The "D" (for the aircraft) comes from the German word doppledecker, (2 wings), and Idflieg's (Inspektion der Fliegertruppen) designation for a single-seat fighter.

The D.I superceded the Fokker E.III (eindecker), owning to its greater speed and manuverablity.

The D.I won back air superiority which had been lost when the French introduced the Nieuport which in turn had outclassed the German E.III.

Gosh don't get me talking about WWI aviation...I don't know when to stop.

Thanks for asking and giving me the opportunity to lecture

Richard

[siegersallee]

Oh, BTW, yes, myrecent interest in Erfurt's comes in part from my interest in WWI aviation and my study of von Keudell.

But, now that I have become acquainted with Erfurt's I am wanting to collect more and have a representive collection of them.

Oh, like most pilots, von Keudell, carried a pistol into combat so that if the plane caught fire he would not have to burn to death on his way down but could end it more humanly.

[Douglas Jr.]

Richard,

First of all, congratulations for your first Luger. A nice example of an Imperial Luger.
I was a an enthusiat of combat flight simulators from WWI and WWII and it is my understood that this kind of enterntainment plays a major role to introduce Military History and the collecting hobby to a new public.

In this sense I would start a collection of German Imperial medals, that are also very interesting and can display great with your Luger.

All the best,

Douglas

[Norme]

Hi Richard, Since your primary interest is aviation, may I suggest that your next Luger should be a 1914 Erfurt Artillery. A little known fact (at least it was by me) is that despite it's name the Artillery model was initially developed for use by aircrew. Early testing showed that "At distances of 300 - 500m and under surface wind conditions of 8m/sec, satisfactory results were obtained against man-sized targets from a flying airplane. At this distance one hit could be expected out of each salvo of 8 rounds.... firing tests from 100m resulted in considerable damage to radiators and Gnôme-Rhône engines....". The Luftstreitkräfte actually ordered a few pre-production samples of the LP08 but, as we all know, this project "never got off the ground". By the way, all this is from the wonderful Görtz/Sturgess book "Pistole Parabellum". Best regards, Norm

[siegersallee]

Hi Norme,
Hi Douglas,

Both are good ideas...medals are a nice touch and Arty model would be nice also.
German Imperial stuff from the Kaiser Whelhelm II era is facinating for me.

thanks for good ideas...
Richard

[b0xcrash]

Originally Posted by siegersallee

I have my first Erfurt!!!

Saturday, at the Eastman Gunshow in Norcross, GA, I met up with a collector from whom I purchased a 1913 Erfurt.

I paid $1100.00.

Regards,
Richard

Congrats! That is a steal.
That is cheaper than you could do from anyone on this forum as well.
Very nice!

[FNorm]

A Beauty, Richard. Ya never forget your first one. Mine was a 1914 Erfurt