Anyone know anything about Lugers?

[kurac]

A customer of mine showed me his Luger today along with a flintlock he brought back from WWII

Luger Specifics

1937 Date stamp
Standard length barrel 4" or 5"
Serial# 5036 stamped on all major parts, single magazine had same serial number

Mint Walnut grips

and the kicker

It looks like it is factory nickle plated, I wish I had my camera with me, he has been storing for the last 60 years in the holster he got it in which is clearly marked P-38 on the back with a bunch of stampings including an eagle holding some kind of a wreath with a swastika in the center.

Any idea on value of the package, I think I might try to buy it from him.

[icormba]

holster he got it in which is clearly marked P-38 on the back with a bunch of stampings including an eagle holding some kind of a wreath with a swastika in the center.

Any idea on value of the package, I think I might try to buy it from him.

Don't know too much about lugers, but I do know P38's and a original P38 holster is worth a couple hundred or so.

[M. Sage]

You might already know it, but the Eagle/Wreath/Swastika logo is a property mark.

If it's a WWII German military-issued Luger, it should have the same somewhere on it.

[andrei]

Check www.lugerforum.com.

Also, the P38 pistol is NOT a Luger. It is a Walther. It seems you have a mismatch between the holster and the pistol.

I've heard that WWI (not WWII) Swiss Luger's can go for huge amounts - 5 digits.

Luger forum is not active like Calgans forum, last posting been in april,may.
Very strange.

[andrei]

A customer of mine showed me his Luger today along with a flintlock he brought back from WWII

Luger Specifics

1937 Date stamp
Standard length barrel 4" or 5"
Serial# 5036 stamped on all major parts, single magazine had same serial number

Mint Walnut grips

and the kicker

It looks like it is factory nickle plated, I wish I had my camera with me, he has been storing for the last 60 years in the holster he got it in which is clearly marked P-38 on the back with a bunch of stampings including an eagle holding some kind of a wreath with a swastika in the center.

Any idea on value of the package, I think I might try to buy it from him.

Only picture will help, but I'm sure you can found all info on internet .
Luger is very interesting gun, I make my research many years bake and
I love my BYF-42 luger, it is part of the history and fune gun to shoot.

[tankerman]

I know a bit about Lugers, The first thing is that the value is in an ALL original gun. Many many lugers are assembled from parts finding matching # for a luger is not the most difficult thing to do, so that ushers in the snakes, that build non original guns to look original. Check all parts for matching numbers including the insides of the grips and magazine, see how the grips fit. A common non matching gun can be picked up for as little as 600 dollars and rare forms going for many times that amount. My suggestion is that you have someone that knows Lugers take a look at the gun, or at least someone that knows collectors guns as they usually know the tricks that some less honest sellers use. Lastly I would not worry about finding A Swastica on the gun as most Lugers were part of Germanys WWI arsenal, they were used in WWII just not as many, as they were to complicated, and while very accurate they are also very tempermental when it comes to ammo and dirt.

[kurac]

This gun has not been messed with, the guy mailed it home from Germany during the war and it is still the way he found out. All of the major parts are marked 5036 and the minor parts have just the 36. there are about 4-5 various stamps on the right side of the grip frame, there is an eagle but no swastika.

The nickel shows the usual milky haze from sitting around for a long time, I rubbed the backstrap with my clean shirt and it polished off rather nicely. The only flaw in the nickel is at the crown, it appears that it is flacking off a little.

Maybe I can go back and get a picture, maybe I can bring 1k and see if I can buy it.

[xenophobe]

Your 1937 is a commercial Luger. The nickel would not be original. Depending on condition, $450-$650. No real collectable value. Perhaps a nice shooter. The holster may be worth $75-$150 depending on condition, date of manufacturer and manufacturer if so marked... Hope that helps.


I just re-read and that there is a flintlock... that's probably worth considerably more than the luger, though I'd have to see it. There are a lot of 'souvineer' flintlocks that look like 1700-1800's era, when they were really made much later. Also, there were a lot of trade guns that were made that aren't worth very much.

[Lester]

As a Luger collector of over 50 years, I can tell you this: The pistol in question is a military issue made in 1937 by Mauser. Assuming all the numbers match including the magazine, and if the finish were original in at least 90% condition, this pistol would sell for $1500 to $1800. This is because it has a matching magazine. Most do not have matching mags, and these would sell for $800 to $1100 depending on condition. Since the pistol has been plated it has lost all its collector value and is now only of interest as a common shooter. The value is now $500 to $600. At the end of the war many GIs had their captured handguns plated by local German gunsmiths before returning home. I believe the going price for this service was a couple of packs of cigarettes. I will be glad to give anyone in southern Kal a FTF explanation and appraisal of their military handguns, just for the asking.

Aaron in Vista
neveragain18@sbcglobal.net

[kurac]

So what I am hearing is: there is no such thing as a factory nickel finish. The customer seems to think that when the peice was surrendered by a German officer, it was already nickel. He recalls this because he had many offers at the time from fellow americans who wanted to buy it because it was unusual.

[tankerman]

As a Luger collector of over 50 years, I can tell you this: The pistol in question is a military issue made in 1937 by Mauser. Assuming all the numbers match including the magazine, and if the finish were original in at least 90% condition, this pistol would sell for $1500 to $1800. This is because it has a matching magazine. Most do not have matching mags, and these would sell for $800 to $1100 depending on condition. Since the pistol has been plated it has lost all its collector value and is now only of interest as a common shooter. The value is now $500 to $600. At the end of the war many GIs had their captured handguns plated by local German gunsmiths before returning home. I believe the going price for this service was a couple of packs of cigarettes. I will be glad to give anyone in southern Kal a FTF explanation and appraisal of their military handguns, just for the asking.

Aaron in Vista
neveragain18@sbcglobal.net

I'll give him a couple of packs of cigs. for it

[Lester]

Germans never plated their pistols, either commercial or military. Nickle and chrome plated pistols are a type of finish only admired by Americans. Countless thousands of these guns have been ruined for collector purposes. The usual story which comes with these plated pistols is that it was taken from a Nazi General. Incidentally, you will hear again and again that this pistol or that pistol was taken from a Nazi officer. Unfortunately, the average GI often mistook German noncoms for "officers" since their uniforms were festooned with unfamiliar decorative touches, such as epaulets, eagle/swasticas, fancy belt buckles, etc, so the GIs never took them for an ordinary Feldwebel (sergeant). Actually, the vast majority of bring back pistols were thrown onto big piles by the captured Germans, and the GIs filed past and were allowed to pick out one pistol each before the rest were destroyed. Many pistols were won and lost in card games or traded for other souvenirs. The going stateside price for a captured Luger right after the war was about $25. I remember that by 1965 you could still buy a nice Luger for about $35. By the early eighties they had climbed to around $300. Now decent Lugers in collectible condition are going up in price at least 20% a year, so they are a great investment.

[andrei]

Luger forum is not active like Calgans forum, last posting been in april,may.
Very strange.

You have to registered at the forum to get any info.
I did.