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This Parabellum is 9mm police gun in a 100mm barrel length with all matching serial numbers to include matching, original grips. The Eagle N proof over the serial number on the receiver was the result of the 1940 Proof Law for all commercial guns and replaced the Crown N and Crown U.

Holsters:  Prussian Landjagerei holsters were usually brown and the Schutzpolizei holsters were black.

Serial numbers appear on the firing pin, breech block along with another military acceptance stamp and on the toggle bolt axle pin.  In 1932 the Reichswehrministerium issued an order that the rear connecting pin be serial numbered to the gun followed by the Bavarian Police order for unit armorers to mark those on hand.

This is a marvelously clean example a Mauser that is seldom found.  It has approximately 98% deep blue with only holster wear on the usually high points and a good barrel. There are no import marks.  This is a one of three hundred known in this 42 Banner Series.

Mauser began military production in 1934 with the "K" date Luger and then in 1935 the designation was "G". This entire effort was to confuse the allies with the number and manufacture of armaments. The manufacture code for these Lugers until mid-1939 was S/42.

Commercial and contract Lugers on the other hand were produced under the Mauser Banner and did not have Waffenamt proofs. Utilizing the Crown N or Crown U proofs these guns were of a distinctive better quality than the military Lugers.

Serial number placement is in the military ("exposed") style. The thumb safety is marked "Gesichert" and extractor "Geladen." The barrel is numbered and proofed and matches the frame.

This was one of the last guns produced by Mauser in this series with the 13th order in 1942 for serial no.'s 7901y-8300y.

While some attribute the "L" to the Landespolizei there are others that believed these proofs were just assigned to offices along with the Eagle Swastika K, F, S, or C for National Police Inspectors. 

These initials roughly correspond to the police organizations of the Land or State Police being formed during the 1840's to the 1890's and re-establish by Hermann Göring in 1933.

The Schutzpolizei or Order Police were formed in the 1920's from various police organizations as Goering and Himler began to consolidate their power.  The Criminal Police (detectives) or Kriminalpolizei (Kripo) were organized in the 1920's at State Level.

The uniformed police in Germany in 1933 when Hitler came to power were the State Police (Landespolizei) or as they were known in Prussia and Thuringia Protection Police (Shutzpolizei). The Allies had demanded the disbanding of the Sicherheitspolizei (Sipo) which was comprised of WWI soldiers and sailors in a paramilitary organization. Hermann Göring as the Prussian Interior Minister began in March 1933 to reverse this with his creation of Landespolizeigruppe (State Police Group for special purposes) and began to connect the Staat (State) Police units into military style organizations.

On this Luger you can see the sear safety probably fully installed at the original time of production. This was the invention of Ludwig Schiwy, a gunsmith and the owner of F.W. Vandry & Company, Berlin. It consisted of a spring-steel bar on the top of the trigger plate which spring down into a recess in the sear bar, locking the mechanism, if the trigger plate was removed.

So who was being issued these police type contract guns?  By 1942 the police organizations had grown into private armies of various branches. Many of the police organizations were newly created units of Ordnungspolizei (Order Police), these units were issued Parabellum 9mm to SD, Gestapo, Kripo and Einsatzgruppen (anti-Jewish police units). 

This is a one of three hundred from the last Police Order for Lugers to Mauser.  It is one of the few reported with the sear safety and has both civilian (Banner) and military proofing. 

If you love Lugers, or just want to look at some rare Lugers from private collections of the of the world's most renowned collectors then check this out.

Over 35 Legendary Lugers, in multiple high-resolution shots depicting details you can study, over 90 pictures, close to 30 minutes of viewing time.  Click below to see more.