I thought y'all might like to see this one... my father picked it up on his last trip to Europe. Granted, his last trip to Europe was in the '40's and while he said he traveled around a lot, he didn't get to sight see much.
As you can see, it lacked decent storage for a long time and I know I need to do something to restore or forestall further degradation but I also realize I need to do it correctly to maintain it's history but first a bit of back story. I can't remember off the top of my head which unit he was with but he was in a munition company and at several points, was charged with guard duty for detainment areas for POW. These were just fenced in areas where the captured were held until they were moved to more permanent facilities. He said he was the last guard at the entrance, where the prisoners filed past after they had been searched, questioned & deloused. He said this one prisoner looked the perfect Nazi.... ramrod straight, short blond hair and the look of arrogance. He handed my father a small 'something' wrapped in an oilcloth and said something in German which translated to "You stupid Americans... you think you can win?" and then continued on into the detainment area. This pistol, with a loaded mag was in the bundle. My father said he had no idea how he had gotten it that far and didn't want to know but he knew he could have easily snuck it into the detainment area but chose to rather demonstrate the American's incompetence.
This is a J.P. Sauer & Sohn 38(h). It is chambered in 7.65mm (.32acp). This particular pistol is an early model as the later models dropped the slide markings other than the chamber designation. It also does not carry the military acceptance mark which is an eagle over the number 37 and would be on the left upper side of the trigger guard. In the third (blurry) picture, you can see the commercial proof mark which is the eagle over the letter "N". Some of the unique features of this pistol, for it's time, is the loaded chamber indicator, seen in the 4th picture and a magazine safety. Another thing that is unique for it's time or since is that the lever on the left side is a decocking lever but in addition, it will also cock the hammer. I cannot think of another pistol that has this feature.
Sorry for the long post but I thought some might find it interesting and I wanted to document it now since I will likely be taking it on a fishing trip and you know what can happen.......
As you can see, it lacked decent storage for a long time and I know I need to do something to restore or forestall further degradation but I also realize I need to do it correctly to maintain it's history but first a bit of back story. I can't remember off the top of my head which unit he was with but he was in a munition company and at several points, was charged with guard duty for detainment areas for POW. These were just fenced in areas where the captured were held until they were moved to more permanent facilities. He said he was the last guard at the entrance, where the prisoners filed past after they had been searched, questioned & deloused. He said this one prisoner looked the perfect Nazi.... ramrod straight, short blond hair and the look of arrogance. He handed my father a small 'something' wrapped in an oilcloth and said something in German which translated to "You stupid Americans... you think you can win?" and then continued on into the detainment area. This pistol, with a loaded mag was in the bundle. My father said he had no idea how he had gotten it that far and didn't want to know but he knew he could have easily snuck it into the detainment area but chose to rather demonstrate the American's incompetence.
This is a J.P. Sauer & Sohn 38(h). It is chambered in 7.65mm (.32acp). This particular pistol is an early model as the later models dropped the slide markings other than the chamber designation. It also does not carry the military acceptance mark which is an eagle over the number 37 and would be on the left upper side of the trigger guard. In the third (blurry) picture, you can see the commercial proof mark which is the eagle over the letter "N". Some of the unique features of this pistol, for it's time, is the loaded chamber indicator, seen in the 4th picture and a magazine safety. Another thing that is unique for it's time or since is that the lever on the left side is a decocking lever but in addition, it will also cock the hammer. I cannot think of another pistol that has this feature.
Sorry for the long post but I thought some might find it interesting and I wanted to document it now since I will likely be taking it on a fishing trip and you know what can happen.......
