P08 Luger lanyard

[FestungSpanien]

Hello,
I need some help.
Is this a true Luger P08 lanyard?
It came inside a flea market found legit and 100% correct WW2 era P08 holster.
Many thanks for any help.
Kind regards,
Ace

[Jerry Burney]

Ace..Not IMO. These thick round lanyards are relatively common and pop up way more often than the more dainty Luger lanyard.
It's my belief they were employed on the larger lanyard ring found on the Reichrevolvers, 1879-1883. The large round lanyard could be folded and looped around these rings and fit quite nicely.
The very rare Luger lanyard is made of a much thinner round leather. Where the two pieces were joined they were braided together. At the working end there was a very small brass or steel swivel. The steel type had a spring clip very similar to the one on your lanyard but with a coiled swivel attached. The brass type had a leather tab that slipped into the pistols lanyard ring folded over and was affixed to a brass closure stud. This type was much more kind to the Lugers blued finish!

[FestungSpanien]

Hi Jerry,
Thanks very much for your input.
I have heard of two types of Luger lanyards, the one you perfectly described and the one that could be very well similar to the one in this thread, the second type it's called.
Maybe the one posted could be this second type?
If not and if indeed for a Reichrevolver series this could be a valuable find...how much would this lanyad be worth?
Many thanks again.
Rgds,
Ace

[John Hodgin]

Ace..Not IMO. These thick round lanyards are relatively common and pop up way more often than the more dainty Luger lanyard.
It's my belief they were employed on the larger lanyard ring found on the Reichrevolvers, 1879-1883. The large round lanyard could be folded and looped around these rings and fit quite nicely.
The very rare Luger lanyard is made of a much thinner round leather. Where the two pieces were joined they were braided together. At the working end there was a very small brass or steel swivel. The steel type had a spring clip very similar to the one on your lanyard but with a coiled swivel attached. The brass type had a leather tab that slipped into the pistols lanyard ring folded over and was affixed to a brass closure stud. This type was much more kind to the Lugers blued finish!

How rare are these Jerry?

Thanks,
John

[phild]

Folks need to be aware that there are a quantity of these type of lanyards in the U.S. now and have been for at least a few years. I can not say that they are 100% like the one posted because I have not taken the dimensions of either....but they are close enough even down to the keeper.

I think that they ones that I have seen being offered are for the Lahti (Swedish version I think), I could be wrong there, but if not it is something close in both area of Europe and time frame.....i.e the 40s-60s. I do recall that the examples that I have seen were intended to loop thru in a girth hitch....like a Nambu Type 14...so I think that the metal carbine hook on the posted example has been added.....easy enough to do.

I agree with Jerry on his information....I might add that I think that the Reichs Revolvers had maybe a flat strap Lanyard with a buckle.....there may have been these round types as well....but I doubt that they looped thru.....the Germans were not that simple in their approach. I have a round one given to me (1982) by the Grandson of the German vet who used it on his pistol in WWI....supposed to have been a Luger but who really knows??

At any rate it is just like the 08 lanyard described by Jerry.....EXCEPT it has a brass carbine clip that swivels (rotates so not to ever twist) on a brass "mount" that is affixed by the braided part that Jerry described....in other words identical to the known 08 variation except ONLY difference is the brass clip instead of the leather fold tab...both have the swivel feature....and of course the brass would not much hurt the blue either.......I consider it a generic type of lanyard for any type of pistol......but German WWI in period of make and use.

[Jerry Burney]

I agree that the lanyard shown by Ace could very well be for other pistols..I just don't know. I do know they are relatively common and inexpensive. I have been interested in Luger lanyards for 20 years and this large plain type pops up frequently. I can't say it is even German. It's purely speculation that I think it would work well with a RR.

Information on RR lanyards is not easy to come by..I have looked at many thousands of WW1 period photo's looking for lanyard pics and have actually found a dozen Luger lanyard photo's. None of the RR though! Even good photo's of period Soldiers with lanyards are pretty sketchy..not much detail. They are small and hard to see much.

[FestungSpanien]

Thanks Jerry and Phil for the extra information.
It amazes me how little information on german lanyards is available as I haven't been able to find a single picture neither for Luger nor Reichrevolvers.
I guess in the field soldiers used whatever they could find, even a simple rope attached to the pistol rings.
Many thanks both again,
Ace

[Jerry Burney]

Ace..As weird as it seems..almost every Luger and RR as well as other German pistols had lanyard attachments..they were not often used! It seemed to be an idea that sounded good but not often followed up on.
The breadbag strap was often used as a Luger lanyard..I suspect almost anything that came to hand would work as you say..
There were also many examples of private purchase lanyards that I have seen.

[Johnny Peppers]

Along the same lines, the U.S. Model 1911 pistol had a lanyard loop on the butt of the pistol, and the magazine had it's own lanyard loop. The lanyard loop on the magazine was discontinued at the end of 1915 production, and it wasn't until 1917 that a lanyard was issued.

[Bill Grist]

I have a Swedish Lahti and Husquvarna 1907. Which when I acquired these two pistols they both had this type Lanyard, the pistols were acquired several years apart....BILL

[phild]

"I have a Swedish Lahti and Husquvarna 1907. Which when I acquired these two pistols they both had this type Lanyard, the pistols were acquired several years apart....BILL "

Thanks Bill. I thought that I had seen these for sale connected at least to the Lahti.....at least one importer had these (or still these) for sale for pretty cheap...originals...I can not recall who right now.

A
The breadbag strap was often used as a Luger lanyard..I suspect almost anything that came to hand would work as you say..
There were also many examples of private purchase lanyards that I have seen.

I agree on all counts. I feel safe in saying that I know that 08 lanyards were never standard issue with the pistols! I am not even sure if there was such a thing as an issue/contracted version for some special or limited issue....but I do agree that some of these were specific designed and sold private purchase to (mainly officers and NCO's) those who wanted to buy one thru military uniform/equipment retail shops.

[FestungSpanien]

You were all right as I have just seen this type of lanyard in the net for nothing
Many thanks for your help and comments
Cheers,
Ace