[Guest]

hello all: I have 2 artillery lugers marked as follows:
DWM 1918 954(a), all exposed parts numbers matching including one wooden dowel clip with 954a number, have not yet removed grips.
DWM 1917 6493(stylized lower case l) , all exposed parts numbers matching, clip fxq 5??, my eyes are getting worst need a magnifying glass to read proof marks on right side of receiver and barrel on both.
your help wouyld be appreciated.
new to luger, but i love them. bigbill

 

[Joop van de Kant]

Hi Bill,

It seems we collect the same pistols, P(L)08, Navy, P38 and C96.
Far from being an expert, I dare saying that the first magazine is a correct one, wooden base and matching #. The DWM Art-Luger from 1918 has been produced probably in January 1918. That year DWM produced about 25.000 of them, from (reported) # 105 through # 997e. See Jan Stills book 'Imperial Lugers' for more details.

The second 1917 Art-Luger does not have an original magazine. If you use indeed a magnifying glass, you will see that the code reads FXO,
and that there will be a small eagle above 37 underneath that code, the WaffenAmt proofing stamps. On top there is mostly the same stamp again. This magazine is produced by the Haenel factory, somewhere in the first years of the fourties.

May I suggest that you mail some pictures of both pistols for us?
It might be helpfull to explore them more precisely. More expecienced collectors could give you then better information.