1914 DWM 

In 1914 the clouds of the "The Great War" spread over many 
European countries. It was also the year that the Model 1914 Luger was 
produced in the DWM and Erfurt arms manufacturing firms. This model had a 
standard stock lug on the 4"army pistol and from this model on, all military 
models had this distinctive feature until the end of Luger production. While 
both firms produced the model, DWM made far more than Erfurt. One major 
distinction that has been noted is the finish of the DWM was superior to the 
Erfurt (apparently due to more labor spent polishing prior to rust bluing and 
strawing). What is called the Model 1914 will be found with the dates 1913 
through 1918 since the first of these pistols actually came off the assembly 
line at DWM in late 1913. This model with the 1913 chamber date is not as 
common but does exist. This was a huge contract for the German army and 
would account for many thousands of pistols for wartime use. One noted 
change to this model, a shorter sear bar, occurred between 1915-1916 , but 
the army pistols were virtually unchanged for the duration of WWI (1914 -
1918). These were all issued in the standard 4" barrel, 9mm caliber, 
checkered walnut or beech grips with strawed small parts. They were 
stamped with the serial numbers in the standard military designation. 
Magazines were constructed of two part nickel plated sheet- metal bodies, 
roll crimped down the sides, with circular spring and a wooden bottom piece. 

Since this was 'the war to end all wars' and saw so much hand to hand trench 
warfare, there is a stong feeling of intense historical siginificance when 
contemplating one of these pistols. Considering the minor design changes 
that occurred during these years of production, it is a true testament to the 
superior engineering and manufacturing present at this time. It is interesting 
to examine an early model 1914 and a late model dated 1918, with three 
years of battle testing, and see virtually the same pistol being produced.

The holster in the photo is made of dark brown leather and manufactured in 
1915 by Meier & Abitzsch in Leipzig. It has an unmarked loading tool in the 
flap and a spare magazine. Unfortunately neither of the magazines are 
matched to the pistol. The entire rig came to me from a long time, very 
experienced collector in the early 1980's. The strap on the holster has some 
wear but has held up for the last 86 years. The finish on the pistol is original 
and would easily qualify as 97% with almost all the wear being on the high 
points of the side plate. It is in the 5000 range and has a suffix of 'b'. This is 
a classic example of an Imperial Luger and hopefully will find it's way through 
many more generations of collectors who will appreciate it's distinguished history.

Bill