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