German Signal Pistol

Question
QUESTION: Hi Doug, I have a Signal pistol the my father brought back from WW 2. It is stamped on the barrell -waffenfabrik walther zella-mehlis (thur) 1939.It looks like a serial number 8636 is stamped on several places as well as other markings. The brown  bakelite grips, barrell etc are in good condition. Can you give me any further info & suggested value please? Thanks Geoff

ANSWER: Geoff,

Can you tell me what the other markings are?  You have a Walther signal pistol that most likely has a manufacture date right around 1940.  I might be able to determine a little more about the value with the proof marks (the other markings).

Anything you can tell me would be helpful...

Best,

Doug


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The barrell & just below the barrell has several symbols, they look German military markings . Five look a bit like a crown each with a letter stamped underneath, these being F, U, S, B & U. There are two places on the barrell where there are symbols that look like they are made up of three parallel lines and a mark in them and with numbers underneath and these are repeated just below the barrell above the trigger. The sets of numbers are 359 & 369.

Answer
Geoff,

You have a pre-war manufacture signal pistol.  The proof marks (eagle, crown with letter underneath) validate that your gun was, in fact, manufactured in 1939.  The existence of the crown proof mark shows that it was of commercial manufacture.  These signal pistols were widely used by the German military during the war.  The gun is a 26.5mm caliber.  The barrel and frame are of aluminum alloy construction with the trigger, trigger guard and lanyard ring being made of steel.

Since they are not included in the "Blue Book of Gun Values" that is largely considered to be the defining reference for handgun values, the value is really only based on market factors that I can determine based on research.  After checking around various site on the web I am seeing that a gun of this type in 85% condition is pretty consistently valued around $400.

Thanks for the several emails you sent me in follow up...they were very helpful in getting to the value.

Best regards,

Doug