Pre-WW1 Commercial Navy P.04/06 Holster, Board-Stock rigs, Part 2

Rarer yet than a M1904/06 German commercial Navy Luger pistol is a complete, matching five-digit serialized holster, board-stock rig. Pictured is one such matching rig, serial number 36851. This particular rig has a unique provenance, first being made by DWM/Berlin in circa 1908, being part of a small batch of 20 – 30 matching commercial rigs per ⴕGörtz/Sturgess in Pistole Parabellum and The Borchardt & Luger Automatic Pistols was one of several purchased in Germany for import to Uruguay, possibly used in the Uruguayan Navy where it probably stayed for many years, eventually making its way to England where it was in a large collection for many years, ending up in Switzerland in 2005 where, as part of the same large collection was offered at auction in Maine in 2014 where it sold for $12,075, purportedly to Simpson Ltd, again traveling back to Galesburg,^[1] Illinois where it was listed for sale for the exorbitant amount of $18,500 where, despite its extreme rarity, it languished for about 9 years from 2014 to 2023, with a penultimate trip to Las Vegas, Nevada, finally selling there at a discounted price. Pictured is the 115-year journey of 36851.

Certain aspects of these small batch of M1904/06 German Navy commercial holster rigs, including serial number 36851 are discussed at length below, first in the ⴕGörtz/Sturgess 2010 publication Pistole Parabellum on pages 376 and 377 and later in 2011 – 2012 in The Borchardt & Luger Automatic Pistols publication a.k.a. TBLAP by ⴕGörtz/Sturgess, Volume II, Chapter 13, pages 892, 893, 894.

Below are Luger Forum comments posted from June 5, 2008 through August 21, 2008 with an included one-page data sheet titled: “DATA ON 1906 NAVY COMMERCIAL LUGERS AND SHOULDER STOCKS FOUND IN URUGUAY AS OF 17 DECEMBER 1974” followed by current 2023 LOB interpretations of excerpts of the Luger Forum comments and interpretations of specific serial numbers listed on the one-page data sheet. Strangely, as of 2023, 15 years since the 2008 Luger Forums publication of the subject 1974 data sheet there has been no other documented publication, except possibly NAPCA which is not available for this article, of the information contained in the subject data sheet.

DWM Comm. Navy #36786 (Uruguay)

#1 · June 5, 2008 Luger Forum comments

In the old Forum Eric (Cirelaw) started a thread on a Navy stock he recently purchased. It showed out to be a stock that was delivered by DWM to Uruguay.

I promised to post some pictures of the DWM Commercial Navy #36786 that I found two years ago in Germany. It has a 6" 9mm barrel, 'Gesichert' in the safety area and 'Geladen' left on the extractor. On the Chamber it is marked with 'Loewe & Co. Oberndorf A/N'. (A/N = An Neckar). It is C/B C/U C/G proofed.

2023 LOB comments: The first instance of a Loewe & Co. Oberndorf chamber marking on a Luger was pictured in the 1958 Publication Luger Variations by †Harry jones and is pictured on pages 110 & 111 as serial number 311a, GERMANY export stamped and is stated in the description to be the only known example. A close-up comparison of the chamber marking of 311a vs 36786 shows the markings to be decidedly different with the 36786 chamber marking to be crudely, through-the-blue, post manufacture applied. Additionally, the barrel, based on the cut-back barrel flange and possibly the receiver interface, has been replaced or modified. Although, more than likely 36786 was a first contract navy dimensional reject frame, similar to 7960 where the barrel flange and receiver were cut-back, BUG proofed and sold as a commercial. Regarding the chamber marking, it is a shame that an otherwise original commercial navy Luger of Uruguayan provenance is so defaced.

Back in 1974 this serial number (36786) is recorded by Carl Scheid as one of the 13 serial numbers on Navy pistols (plus 11 on Navy stocks). ⴕMike Morris was so kind to send me a copy of this 34-year-old document - it is included in the pictures below.

According to Dwight Gruber's Commercial Data Listing DWM might have delivered the Uruguayan Navies between 1906 and 1908.

2023 LOB comments: a 1910 delivery for five-digit commercial navy Lugers seems more probable and not to the Uruguayan navy directly, if at all.

#5 · Jun 5, 2008

Vern

Most of the 1906 commercial reports (all variations) include the GESICHERT stamp in the lower portion of the thumb safety from at least sn 25184 to at least sn 26740, followed by all reports of polished thumb safeties. Joop's sn 36786 is joined by another Uruguayan export Navy Commercial sn 36851 with the GESICHERT stamp, by far the highest reported examples with this characteristic. I estimate that the Uruguayan export Navy commercials were manufactured in 1908. When considering the dates of 1906 and 1908 frame production, it is useful to remember that the P-08 variation was not finalized, and the DWM P08 contract assigned, until December 1908; so it is unlikely that any but the very earliest P08-style guns--military or commercial--were made before 1909.
The GESICHERT stamped 1906 frames again beg the question of DWM commercial guns being assembled partially from rejected military parts or military overproduction, a topic which becomes very pertinent during WWI.

2023 LOB comments: Of rejected first contract Navy military parts, that it is certain, however, only of the unknown, very limited amount of four-digit, first contract navy rejected Lugers that were salvaged by the Navy, commercially BUG proofed and offered to the domestic market.

Regarding the five-digit serial number commercial Long Frame BUG proofed Navy Lugers, manufactured well into pre-WW1 New Model Short Frame production. These were, albeit very few and of nonconsecutive serial number ranges, produced in small batches over several years by DWM prior to WW1, outside and separate from the Navy military contract, were for the European and world-wide domestic market of which included the Uruguayan cache of five-digit, mostly BUG proofed commercial Navy Lugers, purportedly being initially as delivered, complete matching rigs.

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The emphasis on the pre-WW1 domestic, actually German market for commercial Navy Lugers is that there are no published offerings of commercial navy Luger rigs with Germany export markings, excluding 1920s assembled exports of commercial Navy Lugers. Additionally, despite the American domestic offerings of the commercial P.04 Navy Lugers in the pre-WW1 era the German civilian population, which held the Kaiser’s or the Emperor’s Navy in high regard being an issue of national pride, of which, no doubt included a certain demand of the German shooting public for the new P.04 navy commercial Luger, as carbine rigs and/or separate holster belt-loop carry P.04 rigs.

As reported in the Monday, May 4^th,1908 “Berliner Tagerblatt” (At the Pistol-Range) were the results for the rapid-fire match with repeating pistols of which the majority were Lugers, 14 in total. Among the 14, one could have been a New Model, long frame commercial Navy Luger, if not in this event, certainly other period pistol shooting contests in Germany. There is no doubt as to the availability of the P.04 commercial Navy Luger to the German shooting public in 1908 as the commercial navy Luger had already achieved positive acclaim by the American shooting public as early as September 5^th, 1907, acknowledged in a testimonial distributed by Hans Tauscher, the DWM Sales Representative in America.

2023 LOB comments: Pictured is an enlargement of the above commercial navy board stock attaching iron 36719 which appears authentic. The question is with the accompanying picture of the left side of the 36719 board-stock, why is it shown with an apparently unrelated, detached navy holster and a crown Marinen receiver stamped military P.04 navy Luger?

#8 · Aug 21, 2008

First, great research, the data evidenced data of Navy Lugers found in Uruguay as of November 1974 compiled by Carl Scheid demonstrating lugers from #34027 to #37229 and an odd ball, #54049. Were there any additions or alterations in the last 30 years. Considering my addition, #36719 have any other surfaced since then??

2023 LOB comments: 36836 has been identified and deserves special attention, while not being listed in the Carl Scheid 1974 data base its serial number falls within the data base serial number range and basically comes close to fitting the description of 36847, with the exception 36847 being described as a .30 Cal, 6-inch “relined” (sleeved?) barrel which is listed on the data base as found in Uruguay in 1974.

36836 BUG proofed commercial Navy Luger was auctioned off by J.D. Julia in 2008 as a 9mm caliber with a short frame with a polished bright lower thumb safety area with an unnumbered navy stock with a hole in the stock. Click here for the complete J.D. Julia description.

Interestingly, 36836 was again offered at auction by Rock Island Auction, 11 years later in 2019, except this time with a numbered, “unholy” navy board stock. Click here for the complete RIA auction description.

The 2019 RIA auction description is inaccurate and incorrect when it states that the frame is …with the “old” style “short” frame. Stating, also inaccurately that “Obviously the DWM factory was using up the old, left over parts.” Actually, the frame used was of the “New Model 129 mm Short Frame” that superseded the 131 mm long “Old Frame”^[2]. To use the 36836 stamped 129 mm short frame required shortening the 6-inch, 9mm Navy barrel required shortening of the threaded portion of the barrel in conjunction with a machining reduction of the barrel flange thickness in order to install and properly align the barrel and the receiver witness marks to the “short frame” receiver.

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This assembly was done probably due to a shortage of first contract navy long frames and not as RIA states to use up “Old” style “short” frames, which is actually a contradictory statement. Regarding the 36836 short frame as at least 1,382 “New Model Short Frame” Lugers were manufactured before 36836 based on a New Model short frame Luger in the collection being serial number 35454.

Even though the original configured BUG proofed commercial “Long Frame” navy Luger was a slow seller in the Continental United States does not mean there was a lack of demand for this navy variation in the rest of the world, a prime example being the subject Uruguayan cache.

The final issue with all the discussion regarding 36836 BUG proofed commercial navy Luger and its second or alternate, mismatched 36731 numbered board stock, while described by J.D. Julia and Rock Island Auction as of Uruguayan provenance, cannot be automatically categorized as such based on it and its mismatched navy board stock, not being listed on the Carl Scheid 1974 list of identified Uruguayan Lugers, lest not to mention its non-conforming short frame with its, as described, “polished bright lower Thumb Safety area”.

Considering the serial number range in the 1974 Carl Scheid data base, using serial number 36439 as a starting point with 37229 at the upper end gives us a potential range of 780 five-digit serial numbers, which is a reasonable range for the purported 20 to 30 Uruguayan Navy Lugers. 780 divided by 30 give us approximately 1 in 26 possibilities for a Uruguayan Navy Luger. Since the lowest “new model” five-digit serial number manufactured in 1906 is 25001 it is reasonable to restrict the range to the circa 1908, 36000 block of serial numbers, where most of the commercial navy serial numbers are found.

Regarding the 1974 Carl Scheid list of identified commercial Navy Lugers of Uruguayan provenance, 36851, conveniently, is the only pistol that is described with the small Imperial Navy crown M inventory stamped on the barrel underside in addition to the BUG proofs and the 118,35 stamping, suggesting, since not mentioned in the comments of other commercial navy Lugers on the list, that all others on the list lack this barrel underside Imperial German Navy inventory stamp that †Görtz/Sturgess state is mandatory for this variation. See Pistole Parabellum, V1, C16 |The Commercial P.04|The Uruguayan Connection.

It is unfortunate that Carl Scheid did not divulge the exact location or source of his personally examined list of Uruguay commercial Navy Lugers and their serial numbers. Since the pistols, as stated were personally examined are commercial, potentially sold to individual citizens through the retail outlet of Broqua & Scholberg of Montevideo, either Scheid searched the entire country of Uruguay or they were all part of one group of pistols in some sort of inventory in one location, that location, be it of a ships inventory, military armory or retail outlet store inventory or other source will forever remain a mystery.

Conversely, the Sturgess explanation for the Uruguayan commercial Navy Luger provenance or the “Uruguayan Connection” relies solely on the unsupportable contention by Sturgess that 20 – 30 commercial Navy Lugers, as stated above were imported though Broqua & Scholberg of Montevideo via Georg Frank of Hamburg circa 1910. That the statement is not supported by any source data, invoice or other information other than the classical retort “Reported”^[3] is concerning, as certainly Sturgess didn’t create this Uruguayan scenario “out of whole cloth”.

In the 2010 publication Pistole Parabellum where Sturgess discusses in the paragraph titled: The Uruguayan Connection, the first sentence starts with the statement: Many of these commercial P.04s are “reported” to have been exported to Uruguay…whereas in the 2011-2012 publication The Borchardt & Luger Automatic Pistols in the section titled: The Commercial P.04 where in the second paragraph he discusses the Uruguayan commercial navy Lugers, the first sentence states: A number of these were exported to Uruguay. This subtle change in grammar suggests that from 2010 to 2011 - 2012 Sturgess had gone from reported to certain. Additionally, in TBLAP Sturgess now states categorically that: They were imported by the department store Broqua & Scholberg of Montevideo.

Perhaps by 2012 he had knowledge of the documented 1974 Carl Scheid data base of commercial Navy Lugers in Uruguay, which has been readily available, to those interested since 1974, down to current times. Alternately, since Sturgess owned the auction firm of Weller & Dufty, Ltd^[4] in the 1980s where he possibly could have acquired 36851. Interestingly, 36851 is the only surviving, complete commercial Navy Luger matching rig that meets the Sturgess minimum requirement of a C/M navy inventory mark on the barrel underside, indicating the spare status use and that the only commercial Navy Luger listed and described in the 1974 Carl Scheid Uruguay data base that satisfies the C/M barrel stamping is, again conveniently, 36851.

Regarding the 1974 Carl Scheid data base of M1906 Commercial Navy Lugers and Shoulder Stocks found in Uruguay as 12 December 1974, although accepted as genuine, the data base is not completely satisfactory in its Comments or description column. Some of the 1906 Navy Commercial Lugers on the lists are described in detail meaning they were personally examined and described in the Comments column, where others listed are not.

A spreadsheet was made replicating the original 1974 data with an added column identifying the dispersal or spread of the serial numbers. Additional 2023 LOB comments were added to the original 1974 comments column for clarification. Pictured are the original 1974 data base and the 2023 LOB modified data base for comparison.

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What is certain is that the sole, bona fide M1906 BUG proofed navy commercial Luger with a completely intact, matching board-stock-holster of documented Uruguayan provenance currently resides with 36851. The GOLD standard. Pictured are several views of the subject 1906 Navy Commercial Luger rig 36851. View 1, view 2, view 3, view 4.

 

[1] The exact route of 36851 from Europe to auction is unclear as although it was sold at auction in Maine in 2014, prior to auction it had to be export marked by Simpson LTD in Illinois who was the importer then returned to Maine for auction, ironically, purportedly bought by Simpson Ltd for yet another trip back to Illinois offered for resale on his web site.

[2] It should be noted that the Imperial German Navy Lugers continued to use the “Old Model Long Frame” from 1906 up to WW1 while the New Model Short Frame was introduced in 1906 by DWM and used exclusively with the Imperial Army P.08 contract and many commercial variants through 1914.

[3] Common talk or an account spread by common talk: RUMOR

[4] Other Sturgess firearms interests have included ownership of the UK based specialist arms auctioneer, Weller & Dufty Ltd from 1988, until forced into closure by the decline in the UK gun trade and collector market under ever increasing government restrictions in 2005.