My grandfather's Luger

[darko]

<a href="http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/darko1.jpg" target="_fullview"><img src="http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/darko1.jpg" width="400" alt="Click for fullsize image" /></a> <a href="http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/darko2.jpg" target="_fullview"><img src="http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/darko2.jpg" width="400" alt="Click for fullsize image" /></a>

<a href="http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/darko3.jpg" target="_fullview"><img src="http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/darko3.jpg" width="400" alt="Click for fullsize image" /></a> <a href="http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/darko4.jpg" target="_fullview"><img src="http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/darko4.jpg" width="400" alt="Click for fullsize image" /></a>

<a href="http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/darko5.jpg" target="_fullview"><img src="http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/darko5.jpg" width="400" alt="Click for fullsize image" /></a> <a href="http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/darko6.jpg" target="_fullview"><img src="http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/darko6.jpg" width="400" alt="Click for fullsize image" /></a>

My name is Darko Zivkovic and I'm writing from Novi Sad, Serbia and Montenegro.
My grandfather has a pistol "Luger-Parabellum" and I am sending few pictures of it.

This pistol has been captured during Second World War in the battle for Belgrade, my grandfather said that he took two of them, one from german officer called Major Dodel and second from General Schetner. He kept one of them, but he isn't sure which one.

I am interested if there is any way to check my grandfather's story and also if someone can tell me something more about this pistol, its marks, and maybe its value.

Darko Zivkovic

mailto:[email protected][email protected]</a>

(This post was edited to thumbnail the large photographs by Admin-JS, click on the thumbnail pictures to see the photographs full size.)

[John Sabato]

Hello Darko, Welcome to the Lugerforum.

Your Grandfather's Luger pistol was manufactured by Mauser (indicated by the code "byf" on the toggle) in Oberndorf, Germany. The year of manufacture should be stamped above the chamber, but is not visible in your photographs but it should be sometime between 1940 and 1942 based on the P.08 on the side of the grip frame. The complete serial number is 6899 "h" - This small "h" is part of the serial number.

Unfortunately, there are likely no known records available that could document your Grandfather's story about the officers or soldiers from whom he took this pistol.

Some rust appears in your photographs, but overall the pistol is in pretty good condition considering its age is over 60 years.

It would be very difficult to estimate the value of your gun in your country, since not much is known about the value of firearms there, by any of the membership here. But in the American Market, I would estimate the value of your pistol be be somewhere between $650 and $1000, if the finish of the pistol is original...if the gun has been reblued, then the value would be considerably less.

The Eagle/135 marks on the right side are military acceptance/inspection marks made during manufacture.

As your Luger is military in origin, I will move this posting to the Military P-08 Forum.

Once again, Welcome.

[unspellable]

I would consider the chamber date to be part of the serial number since the 4 digit number plus letter suffix on the frame can repeat in succesive years. Perhaps this is less so of Mausers than DWM's but I know there are cases of more than one DWM with the same 4 digits and suffix.

Of course the chamber date does not appear on the frame. This gets messy because the practice followed in numbering a gun varies from country to country and probably time to time as well.

[RockinWR]

Hello Darko & Welcome,
* With two sE/135 Inspector acceptance stamps, an "h" block S/N, and a P.08 on the frame, I'd guess a "42" chamber date.
Respectfully,
Bob