1939 Police Luger Rig

1939 Banner SS Police SOLD

PHOENIX INVESTMENT ARMS - PREMIUM COLLECTOR LUGERS

Genuine German Luger - Largest Variety of Lugers Offered

This is a 1939 Chamber dated Mauser Banner built for the German Police. This Parabellum is 9mm with a 4" (100mm) barrel that is proofed and serial numbered to the gun. Serial number placement is in the military ("exposed") style. The thumb safety is marked "Gesichert" and extractor "Geladen." This example has all matching numbers. It comes with a matched date 1939 holster, proofed loading tool, a second matching magazine and a Nazi Police (Polizei) belt buckle and belt. A true find with all matching gun. (1856)

NOTE: Photographs taken today with the high mega-pixel camera show more than we sometimes can see with the human eye. Magnified close-ups show us tool marks and natural surface conditions that one normally doesn't see in the ordinary handling of the weapon. Photographs are copyrighted, all rights reserved, any extraction, reproduction or display of gun pictures without the express consent of the Phoenix Investment Arms is strictly prohibited. Thank you for your cooperation. Please visit Legal (tabbed) for Conditions of Sale.

The German police (Polizei) began as a series of local constabularies and were assembled into State Police Landespolizei. When on November 9, 1918 a leftist revolution overthrew the Kaiser and forced the armistice on November 11th. There was little organization to maintain order in the newly founded republic. The Weimar Constitution came into effect with its signing by President Friedrich Ebert on 11 August 1919. The German Communist Party was established by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht in 1918, and the German Workers Party, later known as the National Socialist German Workers Party or Nazi Party, was founded in January 1919.


The extractor is marked "GELADEN". The bore is good with distinctive lands and groove. The thumb safety is new style, and blued. The thumb safety is marked 'Gesichert' and safe is down. These end of contract production Police Banner Lugers (the P38 was under production as the side arm) were mostly issued to the SS troops that had their own procurement system.


This Luger has been cared for over 76 years now. It is looking for a good home. (Below) you can see the craftsmanship present in the machined parts, all serial number, all matching. Just a very clean, early war example of the Mauser Banner Police.

During the Weimar Republic it was delegated to the seventeen states of Germany to operate their own police powers of which Prussia was the most powerful. The weapons of the 1st World War were plentiful and so the armaments of the Polizei included the Parabellum which had proven itself in the great war.

In addition to the organized Lander (State) run police there were quasi-military organizations that undertook police duties and classes with the German Police were frequent. Central organization was needed and the Nazi Party was ready.


In 1936 Mauser made a slight design change in the rear of the frame to lengthen the "ears" covering the rear main axel pin to provide better protection. This became know as the Mauser 'hump' due to the 2mm projection. Some earlier Mausers' were built on DWM frame from the acquisition but these were mostly used up in the production of the G-Date Parbellums' however a few pop up. The seven stave Mauser Banner was their commercial designation as was the Crown U (Oberndorf House Proof) point this gun out as strictly a contract gun for the SS police.

SEAR SAFETY: During the 1920's it was determined German authorities that one could remove the side plate with the gun loaded, thereby exposing the sear, and by then pressing on the sear discharge the gun. In this case you can see the sear safety probably fully installed at the original time of construction as a police contract gun. 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 springs down into a recess in the sear bar, locking the mechanism, if the trigger plate was removed.

The front of the receiver has the full serial number that matches the magazine which is also proofed with the Eagle L and number of the magazine (2). The barrel is not proofed but show no signs it is a replacement barrel. The gauge marking is on the barrel.

A close up of the left side shows the commercial Crown U of the Oberndorf proof house. The sear bar installed over the side plate has an extension that drops down into the sear when the side plate is removed for cleaning that prevents the sear from firing the gun. On top you can see the GELADEN on the extractor indicating the gun is loaded by both visual and tactile means in the dark.

Above Left: The right of the receiver is proofed with the Eagle L police proof. These were special contract guns for the SS Police that were increasingly taxed with providing security in the rear areas of captured territory. Above Right: The Crown U (Oberndorf) proof house was the commercial proof of Mauser.

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Hermann Göring, then Prussian minister of the interior, detached the political and espionage units from the regular Prussian police, filled their ranks with thousands of Nazis, and, on April 26, 1933, re-organized them under his personal command as the Gestapo (Gehemeim Staadtspolizei).

Simultaneously, Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, the Nazi paramilitary corps, together with his aide Reinhardt Heydrich, similarly reorganized the police of Bavaria and the remaining German states. Himmler was given command over Göring’s Gestapo in April 1934 and on June 17, 1936, was made German chief of police with the title of Reichsführer.

Nominally under the Ministry of the Interior, Germany’s police forces now were unified under Himmler as head of both the SS and the Gestapo.


The most distinctive feature of these pistols is undoubtedly the toggle-lock mechanism, which holds the breech closed by locking in a manner not unlike the human knee, which can sustain a heavy weight when straight, but once bent is quite easy to continue to bend. The toggle joint in its straight position resists the rearward force of the detonating cartridge, then "buckles" after enough time has passed. When a round is fired the entire breech, barrel and toggle move straight rearward (on rails) until the toggle begins to ride up on a pair of cams that "breaks" the toggle (makes it bend at the joint). Once the toggle joint is no longer straight, it bends freely, allowing the bolt to come rearward, and the striker to be cocked. The spent cartridge is extracted by a combination extractor/loaded chamber indicator on the top of the toggle, is ejected as the toggle nears the end of its rearward Free Travel Info, and a new round is stripped from the magazine and chambered as the toggle is driven back to the straight position by a spring.

(Above Left) In 1932 the Reichswehrministerium issued an order that the rear connecting pin be serial numbered to the gun. You can also see a fine examples of the fire-blued pin. (Above Right) The two grips have large font numbers "85" matching the last two numbers of the serial number.

Above Left: Both magazines are blue sleeved with aluminum Type II bottoms, matching and proofed with the Eagle L. The magazines are numbered 1 and 2 in the police manner. Above Right is a close up of the Crown U on the side of the receiver and it also appears on the breechblock along with "85" and the firing pin is number also, original to the gun.

This Lugers has the shortened sear, enabling the gun to be cocked while still in the safe position. This feature was adopted in 1916 and continued in the modifications in 1934. The barrel is 4" (100mm) and the rear sight is "V" cut fixed and front dovetailed sight with the frame having the stock lug. Serial number placement is in the military ("exposed") style; displayed on the left side of the receiver, the side plate, the locking bolt, the sear bar safety, the extractor, the forward toggle link, the front of the frame, under the barrel, and on the side of the trigger. Original grips are finely cut diamond shaped checkering made from walnut and serial numbered to the gun. This is a very clean gun with an excellent barrel and all matching including the magazine.

The police were divided into the Ordnungspolizei (Orpo or regular police) and the Sicherheitspolizei (Sipo or security police). The Orpo assumed duties of regular uniformed law enforcement while the Sipo consisted of the secret state police Geheime Staatspolizei or Gestapo and criminal investigation police Kriminalpolizei or Kripo.

The Gestapo was a corps of professional detectives involved in political police duties and the task of the Kriminalpolizei was fighting crime.

On September 1939, the Sipo was combined with the secret service of the SS Sicherheitsdienst (SD) into the Main Office for Security of the Reich the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA). RSHA symbolize the narrow connection between SS (party organization) and police (state organization).


The holster is still in excellent condition. Inside is a Werewolf symbol that was composed of units during the late stages of the Weimar republic that were politically controlled. This group formed the basis of the SA during the development of the Nazi party. The back is hard leather and the front is soft and pliable. The interior strap is attached and functional and the buckle is intact with no defects. This holster was re-issued and renumbered to the present gun by serial number.

This rig is presented with the black holster Berlin proofed and dated 1939 Police Holster. There is an SS runes on the back. The Police proofed loading tool, the all matching 1939 Parabellum with two matching magazines, a period belt and Polizei belt buckle.


Above is the enlisted Police belt buckle with pebbled background and the slogan "Gott mit uns" [God with Us]. Usually the buckles sell for over a hundred dollars by themselves and are seldom available with the belt with full components. Along with the holster, extra magazine and tool this makes a great rig for the Nazi Luger Collector.


German Police (Polizei) performed a wide range of tasks from traffic control to actual combat battalions in the anti-partisan role within the captured provinces.


The most distinctive feature of these pistols is undoubtedly the toggle-lock mechanism, which holds the breech closed by locking in a manner not unlike the human knee, which can sustain a heavy weight when straight, but once bent is quite easy to continue to bend. The toggle joint in its straight position resists the rearward force of the detonating cartridge, then "buckles" after enough time has passed. When a round is fired the entire breech, barrel and toggle move straight rearward (on rails) until the toggle begins to ride up on a pair of cams that "breaks" the toggle (makes it bend at the joint). Once the toggle joint is no longer straight, it bends freely, allowing the bolt to come rearward, and the striker to be cocked. The spent cartridge is extracted by a combination extractor/loaded chamber indicator on the top of the toggle, is ejected as the toggle nears the end of its rearward FreebTravel Info, and a new round is stripped from the magazine and chambered as the toggle is driven back to the straight position by a spring. (Below Left) On the front of the sight blade is the Crown U proof. Beautiful.



This is a standard 1934 Model gun designated by collectors as the '39 Mauser Police Banner that was ordered from Mauser for the Police use. This Luger has all matching numbers. The finish is very good and this model has a hold open latch and stock lug. The first toggle link is marked with the Mauser Commercial Banner Code. There is the "V" rear sight on the rear toggle link and the last two digits of the serial number appear. This is an advanced collector's gun.

There was also the Sicherheitspolizei (SIPO) that existed between 1918 and was absorbed into the ORPO during 1920 whose name meant "security police" and was literally a police army organized along military lines and made up mostly of veterans who retained their uniforms and weapons and sought to restore order from the growing communist agitation.

The Schutzmannschaft was first used to describe the urban constabularies that were merged in 1920 into the Order Police (Ordnungspolizei) or ORPO. In addition there was the Protection Police or Schutzpolizei served as Germany's municipal police force and was tasked with maintaining order in German cities and larger towns. The Schutzpolizei was further divided into the following: Schutzpolizei des Reiches (cities and large towns) which include police-station duties (revierdienst) and barracked police units for riots and public safety (Kasernierte Polizei) and the Schutzpolizei der Gemeinden (smaller towns).

This 1939 Mauser Banner Police battlefield pickup is an all matching P08, with two matching magazines. The gun is in an almost minty condition with very little holster were within the dated 1939 black holster. Included is a proofed loading tool to accompany a very good Nazi Police Banner Luger. Any questions to josef@phoenixinvestmentarms.com . This gun may be withdrawn without notice for in-store sale. We reserve the right to sell any internet offering to a direct sale and do not warrant the availability of any firearm that do not have a cash deposit.

LAYAWAYS: Sometimes our "significant other" doesn't understand the beauty, craftsmanship and investment potential of one of these investor grade weapons. In these circumstances where discretion becomes the better part of valor we will accept layaways of up to one year with at least 20% down and some activity occurring monthly to insure that after one year the sale is completed. Cancellations of layaways forfeit 33% if done within two months, otherwise 100%. You can transfer a layaway to a consignment sale at any time. See "Legal" for exact terms.

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FIRING ANY WEAPON NEGATES ANY CHANCE OF RETURN!

WARNING: We do not represent these guns as safe to fire. They are not test fired before sale; they are sold as collectibles only. Prior to firing you should have it inspected by a qualified individual and abide by all safety requirements.

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