Stamped Artillery grips...

[Chris Boonzaier]

From what I have heard, it is usually arty Luger grips with stamps on them?

Would a set of WW1 Grips with a large red "9" stamped in them be worth more than regular grips? Would they be a fair trade for a WW1 Luger magazine?
Thanks
Chris

[Alan Smith]

Chris,

The "Red 9" LP.08 grips are much less frequently encountered than regular grips. However, there are only a very limited number of guns that the Red 9 grips would be appropriate for. Plus, with the grips being numbered to each gun, you would not want to take an otherwise 100% matching LP.08 and "upgrade" it with mis-matched Red 9 grips.

Accordingly, I would think that (assuming condition is equal), a pair of regular grips would be more valuable simply because there are more opportunities for collectors to use them, i.e. fairly often you see an otherwise nice WWI and/or Weimar-era P.08 that is in need of original grips.

I would trade a common WWI P.08 magazine any day for a nice set of regular WWI-era grips (especially DWM grips, as there are more guns for which the DWM grips would be correct). With the Red 9 grips, however, I would have to think about this trade for a while . . . after all . . . what are you going to do with the Red 9 grips? Do you have ready access to a LP.08 that is in need of grips and for which Red 9 grips would be correct?

Just a few thoughts to consider.

[GWA]

Red nine Luger grips would only be appropriate for a 1917 dated LP08. The grips should have a two digit number stamped into the backs of each. If someone had a 1917 LP08 that had a corresponding serial number that matched that of the grips he could "boost" his Luger to something it is not.

If such person were doing this in order to replace a damaged or missing red nine grip I guess it would be okay otherwise he stands to fnuck-up a data base of red nine serial numbers later down the road.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Aaaaahhh.... but a medal collector would value a Grosskreuz ribbon way higher than a simple EK2 ribbon...

He will never have a Grosskreuz to go with the ribbon, but it is way rarer...

;-)