SOLD - Mauser Banner Luger - Swedish Contract?

Description

11/17/22 - This is an interesting and potentially exceptionally rare Mauser Banner Luger from 1937. The pistol has all matching numbers aside from the magazine, and this includes the grips. For commercial contract Mauser Banner Lugers in the serial range of 5660v-5975v, all were sent to Sweden as part of a small contract order. Interestingly, this example has blued small parts, but several others in this range do also. Oddly, this example has a 1937 chamber date while the rest of the recorded examples in The Mauser Parabellum have 1938 or 1939 chamber dates. So it may be something of a unicorn, or just a standard 1937 commercial Mauser Luger, which is rare either way. The pistol has about 97% of the original blue remaining with minor high edge wear, and a little freckling in some areas. Another interesting feature is that the grips have Crown/U proofs. Our initial reaction would be that these proofs look spurious, but we also can't think of a good reason to fake this. The grips have the matching serial of the pistol, and show appropriate age and wear. The bore is shiny with strong rifling, just a little frost in the grooves. The magazine is also in the 'v' block but the serial was redone at some point.