Very Rare 1940 Mauser Banner Luger Rig - Nazi Military Divert

Description

10/24/25 - This is a very nice example of a very rare Mauser Banner Luger rig diverted from a police contract to the German Army in early 1940. Principal markings include: 1137x (serial number); MAUSER‚ banner logo (manufacturer); 1940 (date of manufacture); eagle over 655 (German military acceptance stamp); eagle over N (commercial acceptance stamp). All of the 10,000 "x" suffix Lugers made in 1939 and 1940 were intended to fill a police contract (excepting 298 earmarked for commercial sales). Interestingly, 923 pistols from this police contract were diverted to the Army in late 1939 and early 1940. These Lugers can be identified because they possess the following characteristics: Since they were taken from Police production, they all have the small hole on the left side drilled for installation of a sear safety (though the sear safety is not installed on any of these Lugers). The Police contract required a sear safety (in addition to the standard safety), but the Army specifications only stipulated installation of the traditional safety. All of the pistols diverted to the Army have two eagle over 655 military acceptance stamps on the right side of the frame. German Army Lugers typically also have a third stamp (eagle with swastika), but this stamp was not required in this case because the barrel pressure test had already been performed, as indicated by the commercial eagle over N proof. The serial number must fall between 602x and 1547x. Note: Please see the reference book The Mauser Parabellum by Don R. Hallock and Joop van de Kant for a detailed discussion of these pistols on pages 299 and 362-363. The magazine is a German Army replacement without a serial number and bearing a single eagle over 655 military acceptance stamp (which is the correct Army replacement magazine for this pistol). As designated by the MAUSER banner logo, this Luger was made by Mauser-Werke AG, Oberndorf am Nekar. Based on the serial number, it was made in January or February 1940. Examples of this very rare variant (one of only 923) are exceedingly hard to find, much less one with all matching serial numbers in excellent condition. The listing also includes an excellent 1940 dated tan leather holster. Scarce spare magazine with E/655 proof and no serial number. The gun has retained about 92-93% of its original bluing with just minor high edge wear, muzzle wear, and some minor thinning on the grip straps. Very nice bore with great rifling.