“Manurhin” Walther P1: Cold War Relic

[Absalom]

Pistol is marked with the Walther banner, "P1 Cal 9MM", "9/76", has "89 BW" after the serial number. Came with a flap holster marked "Pist 38" "Kal 9MM (W)", "3-6/63-41".
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It also came with a manual and a piece of paper that may have been when it was proofed and targeted after a re-work in 1989:
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Nice package. Good price for all that too. An army P1 (Bw stamp, Bundeswehr) with hex bolt and reinforced slide, so the best shooter.

The repair stamp squeezed in next to the serial is W 11 89, for St. Wendel (name of the depot) Nov. 1989. The first paper is indeed a test target. The second paper is interesting, a barrel status report noting "free of pitting" ("Rostnarben") at various points in the barrel. Have not seen that included before.

Not familiar with specific holster markings, but it's the correct type.

 

[Absalom]

Do you know what the round stamp on the trigger bow below the serial number indicates? I have a PPK with the same stamp but it's on the frame.

I think you are referring to the cancelled W. German state police property mark. A few states are suspects here, and since it has been struck multiple times in a star pattern, the underlying state symbol may or may not be still recognizable. But for a try, I would need a much higher-resolution very sharply focused close-up.

Having a German police-marked PPK in the US is a bit of a unicorn, since none were surplused before the GCA 1968.

 

[Absalom]

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The West Berlin story is interesting. I have heard that that an unscrupulous importer, at one time, stamped swastikas on some of these to try and sell them as war relics, ….

Various stories have been told about how these came to be, but some were actually offered as "Nazi Manurhin Walther P38" on Gunbroker and such. All the ones I have encountered (via internet pictures) had the importer stamp "A E Co, NYC" on the right front frame, but there are pistols so stamped without the fake Waffenamt marking, so it's not clear whether this importer or some wholesaler who bought a batch from him applied the stamp.

 

[Thiokol]

I think you are referring to the cancelled W. German state police property mark. A few states are suspects here, and since it has been struck multiple times in a star pattern, the underlying state symbol may or may not be still recognizable. But for a try, I would need a much higher-resolution very sharply focused close-up.

Having a German police-marked PPK in the US is a bit of a unicorn, since none were surplused before the GCA 1968.

The chamber date on the PPK is 1964 but it was obviously imported after GCA 68 since the slide is roll marked "Interarms VA".

 

[Absalom]

The chamber date on the PPK is 1964 but it was obviously imported after GCA 68 since the slide is roll marked "Interarms VA".

Yes, that's what I find intriguing. The state property stamps weren't even applied in W Germany until 1968.

The very few of this kind that made it into the US after the GCA came either on an LE exemption or were "grey imports" by returning service members, maybe buried in furniture boxes
But the commercial import marking doesn't fit with that.