This is not a WTS.

Just looking to get up to speed on the subject.

Have tried some research on my own, but perhaps there is an aficionado(s) on board.

How would someone in the US, during the 1950s have acquired one of these, SN 145XXX (Germany) if relevant?

My understanding, production ended in the 1920s.

Would there have been a box, extra magazine, etc.?

Appreciate your consideration.

quote:

How would someone in the US, during the 1950s have acquired one of these

Two primary possibilities come to mind:


1) Hundreds of thousands of them were exported and sold commercially in the 1920s, including quite a few in the US. So someone may have simply purchased it commercially, and from there it made its way to the current owner in the 1950s after it was pawned/resold/traded/etc.


2) While they weren't a standard issue sidearm of the Wehrmacht, there were a fair number that would have ended up in German military or paramilitary use during WW2. A wide variety of personally purchased sidearms were used by German soldiers - especially officers. And the Germans would have also captured a number of Ortgies from other countries whose military or police used them, like the Czechs and Dutch, which would then be repurposed as beutewaffen (captured foreign guns put into German military use due to their constant shortage of firearms). Plus they were also used by a few German police agencies, and many German policemen and police units were pressed into military/quasi-military service throughout WW2, using their police uniforms and weapons.

So it's less likely but also possible that it was a vet bring back by a WW2 US soldier, captured from a German soldier or police officer.


A starting point would be to look at the underside of the frame ahead of the trigger guard where the serial number is located. Guns that were produced specifically for export (as most of them had been) were marked "Germany" there, while those intended for domestic sale were not:



As for accessories, commercial guns were sold in a box with 1 magazine, a manual, and a cleaning rod.

Awesome response.

Thank you.

No further questions.