Possible 1914 Mauser humpback? No photo yet

[fatelk]

A co-worker has an old pistol him dad gave him before he died. The story goes that he took it off of a Japanese officer during WWII.

I haven't seen it yet. I should be able to look at it in a few days and maybe post some photos. We have determined that it's a Mauser model 1914. The odd thing is that he swears it has a 3-digit serial number, making it a valuable "humpback" model, from the info I have found on-line. We found photos on-line of 1914's and he is totally sure that is what it is. He says the serial number is actually 5 numbers but the first two are zeros, as in 00xxx, and the serial number on the mag and other parts are the same 3 numbers without the preceding zeros. He also pointed to the "7,65" in the photos and said that his is stamped ".32 acp" or at least 32 something but he doesn't remember, just the 32 for sure.

Does anyone know if there was perhaps a rare variation of the 1914 that was stamped .32 ACP instead of 7,65mm? Is there anything in particular I should look for?

He says that if it's a rare model worth a lot that he will sell it, but I'm trying to talk him into keeping it no matter what. After all, his dad brought it home from the war and gave it to him just before he died. I told him he would regret selling it, and his son might like to have it some day.

I will try to post photos soon.

 

[Ron James]

A World War I, German 1914 Mauser taken off a Japanese officer in World War II, marked on the slide .32 ACP? I await the photos with bated breath.

 

[Jim K]

I await with you, Ron, especially since the "humpbacks" never had any caliber marking.

Jim

 

[1 old 0311]

Pictures man, pictures.

 

[fatelk]

Well, it's not to be just yet. I was supposed to go to his house and look at it today, but we got a call from my wife's dad yesterday, jumped in the car and drove for eight hours. Her mother suffered a massive stroke yesterday and died last night. We will be in PA Washington for probably a week. It's a tough time for my wife.

Sorry guys. I'm as curious as you are. You know how someone will swear for sure what he has is one way, then look at it again and say "Hmm, I guess I remembered it wrong". I will be disapointed if that's the case here.

He got excited when I told him that it could be valuable if really as he described. I'll try to call him, tell him how to get on to THR and post his photos. Otherwise, next week.

 

[fatelk]

Still no photos

Made it back to work, talked to Don. He said he looked at his pistol the other day and he did indeed remember it wrong. He said the serial number is 49,xxx but there is actually no caliber marking at all. The three digit thing came from looking at the mag or something.

Added: Just stopped by and looked at it. Sorry for getting you guys all worked up; from what I've been able to find, at 49 thousand serial # it's just a common 1914. It's in good shape, probably 75% bluing I would guess, but the wood grips are quite worn with the checkering nearly smooth. The bore is ringed about a third of the way down if you look close, and you can feel (but not see) a very slight bulge on the outside. Does this make it unsafe to shoot?

He was right about no caliber marking. The story of how his dad got it is quite interesting too. It was on Guadalcanal. He was hiding in a bush and a Japanese officer heard him and drew this pistol. He shot him with his M1 carbine and took the pistol and other personal effects, photos of family, etc. which Don also has. He said his dad felt ashamed his whole life for taking the personal stuff from him and talked about trying to figure out how to return it to the family in Japan. The pistol as a trophy was one thing, personal stuff was stealing he felt.