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Borchardt C-93 · Volume 5

Variants, Markings, Stocks and Cased Sets: Identifying a C-93

Loewe against DWM, where the serial numbers are, the running changes the factory documented, the stock and holster, what a complete outfit contained, and what has been restored or reproduced

Figure 1 — Four C-93s photographed from the right side, two of each make. Panels 1 and 2 are Loewe pattern, with the single line "SYSTEM BORCHARDT. PATENT." on the receiver; panels 3 and 4 are DWM, with three…
Figure 1 — Four C-93s photographed from the right side, two of each make. Panels 1 and 2 are Loewe pattern, with the single line "SYSTEM BORCHARDT. PATENT." on the receiver; panels 3 and 4 are DWM, with three lines adding the company name and "BERLIN." The Loewe guns carry their maker's name on top of the chamber instead, which this angle does not show.

There are not many kinds of C-93. It was made for about five years, by two firms that were legally one business renamed, in one calibre, to one design. A reader confusing two C-93s is rarely confusing two models; he is confusing two makers, or an original with a restoration, or a complete outfit with a pistol that has had its stock, holster and case made up later. This volume is about those distinctions, and the most important one is the one the factory changed when the firm changed its name: where the maker’s mark is.

5.1 What varies, and what does not

Constant across production: the mechanism; the 7.65 mm Borchardt chambering; the eight-round magazine with its wooden base; the patent number “D.R.P. No 75837” on the toggle; and the right-side marking “SYSTEM BORCHARDT. PATENT.”

Variable, as documented in the sources consulted: the maker’s marking and where it is; whether the stock is numbered; small parts changed in production (the sear spring’s retention, the sights); the presence or absence of a stock lug; barrel length on prototypes and early pistols; contract markings; and, above all, what has survived with the pistol.

5.2 Telling Loewe from DWM

Table 1 — Telling Loewe from DWM

FeatureLoeweDWMWhere to look
Chamber topThree lines: “WAFFENFABRIK / LOEWE / BERLIN.”BlankTop of the barrel extension, just behind the barrel
Right side of the receiverOne line: “SYSTEM BORCHARDT. PATENT.”Three lines: “SYSTEM BORCHARDT. PATENT.” / “DEUTSCHE WAFFEN- UND MUNITIONSFABRIKEN.” / “BERLIN.”Flat of the receiver above the grip, right side
Toggle top”D.R.P. / No 75837""D.R.P. / No 75837”Top of the front link
StockNumbered to the pistol; stamped “GESETZLICH GESCHUTZT” (legally protected)Unnumbered, which is correct for DWMButt of the board stock
MagazinesWooden base numbered to the pistolWooden base numbered to the pistolBase of the magazine
Serial range, as seen in the auction recordUp to at least 1013From at least 1105Underside of the grip frame
ManualLudw. Loewe & Co., Hollmann-Strasse 32Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken, Berlin S.W.Cover and title page

The marking transcriptions are taken from photographs where possible and otherwise from Rock Island lot essays, whose cataloguers punctuate them differently.1234 The Bonhams description of Loewe serial 881 gives “the toggle stamped ‘D.R.P. No. 75837’”, “the slide stamped ‘System Borchardt. Patent.’” and “the receiver-ring stamped ‘Waffenfabrik Loewe, Berlin’”.5 The stock distinction is from the auction trade: a Rock Island essay records a Loewe stock “numbered ‘522’ near the butt” and stamped “GESETZLICH GESCHUTZT”; a James D. Julia essay for DWM serial 1105 says its “orig walnut stock and cheek piece are unnumbered as is correct for the Borchardts made by DWM”.16 The serial-range line is this dive’s inference from the auction record set out in Volume 2, not a published boundary.

5.3 The markings, close up

Figure 2 — The four markings that identify a C-93's maker, numbered to match the key below. 1, the Loewe chamber-top marking. 2, the German patent number on the toggle, shown on the Loewe pistol in Koblenz. 3…
Figure 2 — The four markings that identify a C-93's maker, numbered to match the key below. 1, the Loewe chamber-top marking. 2, the German patent number on the toggle, shown on the Loewe pistol in Koblenz. 3, the Loewe right-side marking, which carries no maker's name. 4, the DWM right-side marking, which carries it.

Key to the plate:

  1. Loewe chamber top. “WAFFENFABRIK / LOEWE / BERLIN.” in three lines, read across the chamber from the left. Note that the marking reads “Waffenfabrik Loewe”, the arms works of Loewe, not the “Ludw. Loewe & Co.” of the company’s letterhead and manual.
  2. Toggle top. “D.R.P. / No 75837.” The patent number appears on both makes, according to the Rock Island descriptions of Loewe and DWM pistols; the photograph shows the Loewe example only.13
  3. Loewe right side. “SYSTEM BORCHARDT. PATENT.” and nothing else.
  4. DWM right side. Three lines, with the maker’s name moved here from the chamber top, which is now blank.

The NRA National Firearms Museum’s online catalogue entry for its C-93 gives its serial number as “SN 75837”. That is the patent number from the toggle, not a serial, and is an easy mistake for anyone reading markings for the first time.7

5.4 Where the serial numbers are

On DWM pistols the Rock Island essays list the serial on the stock lug, the bottom of the grip, the left side of the trigger, the left side of the rear toggle link, the rear underside of the barrel, and the wooden bases of the magazines.48 On Loewe pistols they describe the serial on the underside of the grip frame, with matching numbers inside the grip panels and on the magazine bases.2 The late DWM serial 1723 is described with “larger serial numbers on the frame and magazine”.3

A number on a magazine base that does not match the pistol means a replacement magazine. Rock Island’s Loewe serial 529, for example, has a magazine numbered 534.2 DWM serial 1681 is described with a magazine numbered 1232 and an unexplained “5786” on the front grip strap.9

5.5 Proof marks

The DWM manual describes the proof: “At the official test the finished mechanism is proved with a charge of 5,6 gramm black powder and a soft-lead slug weighing 16,1 gramm. The barrel and parts of the lock bear the official stamp.”10 A proof load of black powder behind a heavy lead slug was the German proof practice of the period for small arms; the figures here are the factory’s own.

The Rock Island essays describe the marks on DWM pistols as crown over B, U and G on the left of the barrel, and crown over B and U on the left front of the barrel extension, the left of the breechblock and the toggle; on Loewe pistols they describe “crown/letter” proofs on the barrel, extension, toggle and breechblock without transcribing the letters.341 These are the marks of the German proof law of 1891, in which B is generally read as Beschuss (proof), U as Untersuchung (inspection) and G as gezogen (rifled); that reading was not confirmed from a proof-mark reference for this dive. One DWM pistol is described with “172,28” under its proofs, which may be a bore measurement; the cataloguer’s transcription was not checked against a photograph.8

5.6 Running changes the factory documented

The two English manuals, Loewe’s and DWM’s, are near-identical texts, and where they differ they record changes made in production.1110

Table 2 — Running changes the factory documented

ChangeEarlier (Loewe manual)Later (DWM manual)
Sear spring retention”The sear-spring is separated from the receiver by withdrawing the searspring-screw.""The sear spring is pushed out of its seat with a screwdriver.”
The Loewe manual itself notes the change”(In the latest construction the sear-spring is not held by a screw, but in a slot out of which it is pushed after the removal of the sear).”—
Magazine spring removalPulled out through the top, past the lips, “with a little practice”, without removing the bottom pieceThe bottom piece is released by pressing out its pin
Name for the closing spring’s link at takedown”together with the closing-spring""together with the closing pin”

The Rock Island essay for late DWM serial 1723 lists the late features it found: “a blank chamber area, fixed integral rear sight, one-piece, integral front sight blade with the more pointed blade, larger serial numbers on the frame and magazine, improved dovetailed sear leaf spring”. The consignor added that the pistol “was manufactured without a stock lug and that it was intended for sale in France”.3 Against that, a Bonhams description of Loewe serial 881 gives an “adjustable open rear-sight” and an “express fore-sight”.5 Taken together, the sources suggest the rear sight changed from adjustable to fixed during production, but no source states the change or its serial.

5.7 Short barrels, prototypes and experimental guns

The Loewe English manual documents a 154 mm barrel alongside the standard 190 mm, with a weight of 1,250 g against 1,275 g.11 The collector site that published the German DWM manual describes that edition’s Plate III as line drawings of “a preproduction short-barrel C93 Loewe Borchardt”.12 Short-barrelled C-93s are therefore a documented factory configuration, not necessarily a later alteration, though any particular short-barrelled pistol needs its own evidence.

The auction record also includes:

  • Unserialised tool-room prototypes. Rock Island has offered at least two unserialised Loewe pistols described as tool-room prototypes, one with “no markings or proofs” and “a provision for a sling swivel on the rear, where a stock lug is typically found”.13
  • A prototype with a 6-inch barrel and a skeleton stock, catalogued by James D. Julia in 2017 with “at least 98% reapplied rust blue”, replacement grips and a mechanical fault (“Top assembly is loose, will not return fully to battery”); it did not sell at an estimate of $17,500 to $35,000.14
  • Loewe serial 13, with “experimental features” including an experimental sear and stock attachment, which sold for $74,750 in 2017. The same essay says “a number of its very first 1893s were sold with a skeletonized shoulder stock”.15

5.8 Contract and special markings

Siam. A small number of late DWM pistols carry a circular Siamese chakra mark on the frame or grip. Görtz and Sturgess, as quoted by Poulin Auctions: “It is possible that a small number of Borchardt pistols were acquired officially by Siam, since two late DWM production pistols, serial nos. 2915 and 2956, are known with Siamese markings to the grip.”16 A 2024 article counts four known (2268, 2915, 2956 and 3019) and associates them with a stock longer than standard; Rock Island describes a fifth, 2230.174 Poulin’s 2915 is described as “beautifully restored” with its markings “enhanced”, which is a reminder that a desirable mark is also a target for improvement.16

Military test marks. A James D. Julia essay notes “A Crown/ scriptic D”, a mark “historically applied to military test guns”, on the unserialised prototype it offered.14 What test it records is not stated.

France. The consignor’s statement that DWM serial 1723 was made without a stock lug for sale in France is unconfirmed.3

Presentation and named guns. Rock Island’s serial 19 rig has an inscribed case with a silver name plate; the 2024 Rock Island essay associates a cased pistol with the New York entrepreneur J. L. Childs.1819

5.9 Museum examples, identified

The Commons photographs used in this dive were each identified by the rule above, and two museum labels turn out to be wrong or incomplete.

Figure 3 — The Glenbow Museum's C-93, right side. The three-line marking on the receiver names Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken, so this is a DWM pistol, made in or after 1897. The museum's label, visib…
Figure 3 — The Glenbow Museum's C-93, right side. The three-line marking on the receiver names Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken, so this is a DWM pistol, made in or after 1897. The museum's label, visible at right, dates it "c. 1894".

Glenbow Museum, Calgary. The label calls it “German, c. 1894” and says the Borchardt “was the first to have a detachable magazine in the handle. Well-made and very accurate, the Borchardt was a considerable technical achievement at the time.” The receiver marking, legible in the photograph, is the DWM three-line form, which places the pistol in 1897 or later. The label’s date is too early by at least three years.

WTS Koblenz. A Loewe pistol, identified by the chamber-top marking in the photograph of its top (plate panel 1) and by its own label. It is the pistol shown in Volumes 1 and 4.

Figure 4 — A Loewe C-93 in the Grand Curtius museum, Liège, left side. The photographer's description reads "Systeme Hugo Borchardt, 7,65 mm, Waffenfabrik Loewe, Berlin"; the chamber marking is out of sight i…
Figure 4 — A Loewe C-93 in the Grand Curtius museum, Liège, left side. The photographer's description reads "Systeme Hugo Borchardt, 7,65 mm, Waffenfabrik Loewe, Berlin"; the chamber marking is out of sight in this view, so the identification rests on the museum's description.

NRA National Firearms Museum, Fairfax. The museum calls its pistol a “Ludwig Loewe Waffenfabrik Borchardt Model 1893”; the “SN 75837” on its page is the patent number. Two Commons photographs taken in the gallery show it with a spare magazine and, in the later one, the wooden barring block with its brass oiler cap. The gallery label calls the cartridge “7.63mm Borchardt” and dates the pistol “ca. 1894-1897”.7

Figure 5 — The C-93 at the NRA National Firearms Museum. Below it lie a spare magazine, right, and the magazine-shaped wooden barring block with the brass cap of its oiler, left. The label calls the pistol th…
Figure 5 — The C-93 at the NRA National Firearms Museum. Below it lie a spare magazine, right, and the magazine-shaped wooden barring block with the brass cap of its oiler, left. The label calls the pistol the direct ancestor of the Luger and "the first commercially successful semi-automatic pistol"; its "7.63mm" is the label's slip for 7.65 mm.
Figure 6 — The same museum's C-93 in an earlier photograph, with the spare magazine and the wooden barring block lying below it. The magazine's wooden base and witness holes are visible.
Figure 6 — The same museum's C-93 in an earlier photograph, with the spare magazine and the wooden barring block lying below it. The magazine's wooden base and witness holes are visible.

Military Museum, Beijing. Identified only as “Borchardt automatic pistol, German made” on its label (Volume 2). The maker could not be read from the photograph.

Unidentified museum display. The Commons photograph used as panel 2 of the plate above shows the right side of a pistol with a single-line marking, which is the Loewe pattern; the museum is not named in the file’s description.

Figure 7 — The same unidentified display, wider: a C-93 hung in a case with other arms. Its single-line right-side marking identifies it as Loewe pattern.
Figure 7 — The same unidentified display, wider: a C-93 hung in a case with other arms. Its single-line right-side marking identifies it as Loewe pattern.
Figure 8 — A DWM C-93, serial 2119, right side, showing the three-line DWM marking clearly. The same pistol is offered on a dealer page as an original pistol that has been refinished, with replacement grips, …
Figure 8 — A DWM C-93, serial 2119, right side, showing the three-line DWM marking clearly. The same pistol is offered on a dealer page as an original pistol that has been refinished, with replacement grips, stock and holster.

5.10 The stock and holster

Figure 9 — A C-93 with its board stock attached, in a museum case. The stock clamps to the tenon on the back of the spring box; the leather holster that laces to the stock is not fitted in this display.
Figure 9 — A C-93 with its board stock attached, in a museum case. The stock clamps to the tenon on the back of the spring box; the leather holster that laces to the stock is not fitted in this display.

The stock is the C-93’s defining accessory and the factory treated it as part of the pistol. The DWM parts list gives it as four items: “27. Wooden stock with ferrule and pin. 28. Connecting bolt with nut. 29. Connecting bolt pin. 30. Strap staple with screw.” The implements list adds “38. Leather cover for pistol laced to buttstock” and “39. Strap with carbine hook and button”.10 The stock, holster and strap together weigh 425 g by the factory’s table.10

It is a flat walnut board, shaped to the shoulder, with a removable cheekpiece; the auction descriptions consistently mention a “quick-mount” or “detachable” cheekpiece and a “blued steel mounting iron”.201 It attaches by its small end to the tenon on the back of the spring box: “Insert the small tenon at the back of the spring-box into the slot of the small end of stock and turn the projecting roughed nut until the pistol is firmly seated.”10 The leather holster laces to the stock, so that stock and holster form one carrying unit, and the strap slings the whole rig. The ONI’s 1896 description explains the intended use: the pistol and stock could be “slung by a strap over the shoulder, stock up, so that with one hand it can be brought to the shoulder for firing.”21

Figure 10 — The same configuration with the background removed: the C-93 as a pistol carbine. The stock's flat board form, cheekpiece and the clamp at the spring box are clear in profile.
Figure 10 — The same configuration with the background removed: the C-93 as a pistol carbine. The stock's flat board form, cheekpiece and the clamp at the spring box are clear in profile.

Two early variants are documented. James D. Julia’s essay for Loewe serial 13 says that “a number of its very first 1893s were sold with a skeletonized shoulder stock”, and the ONI’s 1896 description speaks of “a detachable skeleton butt-stock”.1521 And Rock Island catalogued an unnumbered stock without the “GESETZLICH GESCHUTZT” stamp as “a very early stock that was sold without pistol”.22 The Siamese pistols are associated with a longer stock.17

Figure 11 — A C-93 with stock in a mixed museum display, the stock's cheekpiece and the flat board clear against the red ground. The pistols below are not C-93s.
Figure 11 — A C-93 with stock in a mixed museum display, the stock's cheekpiece and the flat board clear against the red ground. The pistols below are not C-93s.

Rock Island’s essays make the commercial point bluntly: the pistols “were typically all sold as a complete cased set with walnut board stock and spare magazines. In many instances the cases, stock/holster and accessories were separated from the Borchardt pistol and lost”, and “these leather holster are even rarer that the stock as they deteriorated over the years”.22 An original stock separately is a valuable object in its own right (Volume 8).

The law follows the stock. In the United States, a C-93 with its stock attached is on its face a short-barrelled rifle. ATF lists the stocked Borchardt as removed from the National Firearms Act only for pistols made in or before 1898 with their accompanying stock. A later pistol with its stock, or any pistol with a reproduction stock, is a different matter. Volume 8 sets this out before anyone fits a stock to anything.

5.11 What a complete outfit contained

Plate II of the DWM manual draws every part and implement the factory supplied, and its implements list names them.10

Figure 12 — Plate II of the DWM English manual: the numbered parts of the pistol, magazine, buttstock and implements. At right, the board stock; at lower left, the magazine-shaped barring block with its oil bo…
Figure 12 — Plate II of the DWM English manual: the numbered parts of the pistol, magazine, buttstock and implements. At right, the board stock; at lower left, the magazine-shaped barring block with its oil box, the cleaning rod in sections, the screwdriver handle and blades, and the drifts.

The factory’s implements, from the two manuals:

Table 3 — The factory's implements, from the two manuals

DWM manualLoewe manual
31–32 (not transcribed)1 cleaning rod
33. Barring block with jointed cleaning rod and oilbox1 wooden bar
34. Lengthening piece for cleaning rod—
35. Screwdriver handle1 wooden handle for the special screwdriver
36. Screwdriver blades1 double-ended screwdriver; 1 special screwdriver
37. Drifts1 larger drift; 1 smaller drift
38. Leather cover for pistol laced to buttstock—
39. Strap with carbine hook and button—

The barring block deserves explanation, because it appears in every complete outfit and is often misdescribed. It is a wooden block the shape of a magazine. The pistol has no hold-open, so to clean the barrel the owner removed the magazine, opened the breech, and pushed the block up into the magazine well in front of the breechblock, which then rested against it. The DWM version also carried the oil bottle and the jointed cleaning rod.10 A Rock Island description of a Loewe outfit calls it “a hardwood dummy magazine that acts as a carrier for an oiler, rod extension and patch jag”.20

What the trade has actually found in outfits, from auction descriptions:

Table 4 — What the trade has actually found in outfits, from auction descriptions

SourceContents
Hermann Boker & Co., New York, 1898, as quoted by Rock IslandPistol “for $30.00 each. Included were ‘three extra magazines, tools, oilers, holster, and strap.’ A leather case cost an additional $5.00”
Rock Island lot 1368, December 2024, Loewe serial 19”original matching wooden shoulder stock, the original black leather holster, four matching numbered original walnut based magazines, carrying strap, spare dummy magazine with brass oiler on the end, original silver oil bottle, screwdriver, and the original black leatherette carrying case”, and cheekpiece
Rock Island lot 409, August 2023, Loewe, casedBlack leatherette case with green felt lining; matching numbered stock with holster and quick-mount cheekpiece; black leather sling; three extra matching magazines; “a hardwood dummy magazine that acts as a carrier for an oiler, rod extension and patch jag, a brass rod, a screwdriver handle with two interchangeable blades, and two steel pin punches”
James D. Julia lot 2005, October 2017, Loewe serial 463Case with “the wiping rod, screwdriver, takedown punches, leather sling, grease container, solvent bottle and oiler”, barring block with maker’s mark, four matching magazines, described as “unheard of”
Morphy lot 1353, May 2022, case onlyCase with “solid wood carbine stock, cheekpiece, barring block, cleaning rod, oil bottle capsule (containing a glass oil bottle …), oil dropper, as well as its leather sling”, and a “W.S. WHISLER” sticker in the lid
Rock Island lot 1417, DWM serial 1475Four matching magazines, stock with iron, holster, cheekpiece, dummy magazine with brass oiler, strap, two-piece brass rod and jag, two pin punches, leather-covered case

Sources: Rock Island and its blog; James D. Julia; Morphy.19182023248 The common core is the pistol, stock, cheekpiece, holster, strap, three or four magazines, the barring block, cleaning rod, screwdriver with blades, drifts, an oil bottle, and a leather-covered case.

Figure 13 — A cased outfit photographed by its owner. In the lid the cleaning rod sections; in the base the pistol, a spare magazine, the barring block at lower left, an oil bottle, and small tools at right.
Figure 13 — A cased outfit photographed by its owner. In the lid the cleaning rod sections; in the base the pistol, a spare magazine, the barring block at lower left, an oil bottle, and small tools at right.

5.12 Manuals

At least four printed editions are known. The Loewe English manual, Repeating Pistol (System Borchardt), from Ludw. Loewe & Co., Hollmann-Strasse 32, is described by the collector who published it as “the only known published Loewe manual”.12 The DWM English manual, Automatic Repeating Pistol, Borchardt Patent, exists in more than one copy, one with a Baker & Hamilton dealer stamp.12 A DWM German manual with three folding plates carries the stamp of Georges & de Watteville of Amsterdam. A Spanish DWM edition is listed by the same collector, and a French DWM manual accompanied a Rock Island prototype lot.1213 Reprints are common and are usually declared as such by the better auction houses: Poulin’s Loewe serial 1013 came with an “apparent reprint of the Ludwig Loewe instruction pamphlet”, and Hermann Historica’s DWM serial 2234 with a manual that “is not the original, but a reprint”.2526 A Japanese model-gun maker also sold reproduction C-93 manuals around 2015 (Volume 9).

5.13 Restored, enhanced and reproduced

Most surviving C-93s are not as they left the factory, and the trade’s own language is the best guide to what has been done.

  • Refinished. Collectors Firearms described its serial 1910, at 97 percent original blue, as “a very fine example of an original condition gun and holster. Most examples are restored.”27 Julia’s DWM serial 1962 had a “professionally restored finish”; its prototype had “reapplied rust blue”.2814
  • Markings enhanced. Poulin’s Siamese serial 2915 is described with markings “enhanced”.16
  • Reproduction stocks, holsters, cases and grips. Poulin’s 2915 has a “reproduction black leather holster, with quality made reproduction shoulder stock and detachable cheekpiece” and “reproduction checkered wood grips”; Julia’s 1962 has an “outstanding reproduction, green felt lined, black leatherette covered trunk case” and “reproduction holster & straps”; Rock Island’s Loewe serial 529 has an “un-numbered professionally made correct style shoulder stock”.16282 A dealer in 2017 described a case as “a hand made exact reproduction of very high quality” and a stock as “a quality reproduction with an original blued steel attaching cap”. None of these listings names the maker.
  • Non-original side plates. A collector on LugerForum identified a cover plate on a pistol for sale as “fabricated from flat stock (not spring steel) with a hex-head attaching fixture”; an original, he writes, is “fire blued spring steel”.29

5.14 Not a C-93

Three things are sometimes taken for a C-93 or confused with it in captions.

  • The Borchardt-Luger transitional pistols of 1898–99. The earliest kept C-93-style toggles with rollers, but have raked grips and a much shorter rear extension (Volume 3).
  • The Mauser C96. Same period, same cartridge family, same stock-holster idea, entirely different mechanism.
  • Bergmann pistols of 1894–96, the C-93’s other German contemporaries.
Figure 14 — First-generation self-loading pistols of the 1890s from Commons. The C-93 is the only toggle lock among them; the C96 locks with a block under its bolt, and the Bergmanns are shown for comparison o…
Figure 14 — First-generation self-loading pistols of the 1890s from Commons. The C-93 is the only toggle lock among them; the C96 locks with a block under its bolt, and the Bergmanns are shown for comparison of form.

5.15 A buyer’s identification checklist

  1. Read the chamber top. Three-line Loewe marking, or blank for DWM.
  2. Read the right side. One line for Loewe, three lines for DWM. The two should agree with the chamber top.
  3. Check the serial on every part listed above and on every magazine. Mismatches mean replacements.
  4. Check the stock. A Loewe stock should be numbered to the pistol and stamped “GESETZLICH GESCHUTZT”; a DWM stock is unnumbered. An unnumbered stock on a Loewe pistol is either a replacement or one of the early stocks sold separately.
  5. Look at the finish and the edges of the markings. Reapplied rust blue and sharpened markings are common and are not always declared.
  6. Look at the side plates. Originals are fire-blued spring steel.
  7. Ask what is original in the outfit, item by item. Cases, holsters and stocks are reproduced, and the best reproductions are not easily told from originals in photographs.
  8. Establish the date of manufacture before anything else, if the pistol is to be owned in the United States, and especially before a stock is fitted (Volume 8).

5.16 What could not be established

  • The serial boundary between Loewe and DWM, and whether late Loewe-numbered guns were finished and marked by DWM.
  • The serial at which the rear sight changed from adjustable to fixed, if it did.
  • The meaning of the proof letters, read here as B for proof, U for inspection and G for rifled.
  • How many Siamese pistols exist, two in Görtz and Sturgess, four or five in later reports.
  • The makers of the reproduction stocks, holsters and cases seen in the trade.

References

Footnotes

  1. Rock Island Auction Company, lot 75-2694, 1 December 2018, “Loewe 1893 Borchardt pistol with matching stock”, https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/75/2694/loewe-1893-borchardt-pistol-with-matching-stock, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. Rock Island Auction Company, lot 1049-542, 3 October 2025, “Cased Ludwig Loewe Model 1893 Borchardt pistol with accessories”, serial 529, https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/1049/542/cased-ludwig-loewe-model-1893-borchardt-pistol-with-accessories, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. Rock Island Auction Company, lot 69-3297, DWM serial 1723, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  4. Rock Island Auction Company, lot 66-1558, “DWM 1893 pistol 7.63 mm Borchardt”, serial 2230, https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/66/1558/dwm-1893-pistol-763-mm-borchardt, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. Bonhams, Modern Sporting Guns, London Knightsbridge, 28 November 2019, sale 25427, lot 42, Loewe no. 881, https://www.bonhams.com/auction/25427/lot/42/, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  6. James D. Julia, Firearms, April 2017, lot 1520, DWM serial 1105, https://jamesdjulia.com/?p=548184, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  7. NRA National Firearms Museum, “Ludwig Loewe Waffenfabrik Borchardt Model 1893 Semi-Automatic Pistol”, https://nramuseum.org/the-museum/the-galleries/world-war-i-and-firearms-innovation/case-59-world-war-i-the-central-powers/ludwig-loewe-waffenfabrik-borchardt-model-1893-semi-automatic-pistol.aspx, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  8. Rock Island Auction Company, lots 69-1417 and 71-1438, DWM serial 1475, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. Rock Island Auction Company, lot 57-1506, DWM serial 1681, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  10. Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken, Automatic Repeating Pistol, Borchardt Patent, English edition, pp. 7–13 and Plates I–III. Scan circulated by Forgotten Weapons; page images at https://landofborchardt.com/C93manual.html, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  11. Ludw. Loewe & Co., Repeating Pistol (System Borchardt), English edition, pp. 9–14. Page images at https://landofborchardt.com/LoeweManual.html, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  12. Land of Borchardt, “1893 C93 Borchardt German Language Manual” and manual galleries, https://landofborchardt.com/c93manual-article.html, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  13. Rock Island Auction Company, lot 4095-1385, unserialised prototype Loewe pistol, https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4095/1385/unserialized-prototype-ludwig-loewe-1893-borchardt-pistol, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  14. James D. Julia, Firearms, April 2017, lot 1518, https://jamesdjulia.com/?p=548182, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  15. James D. Julia, Firearms, April 2017, lot 1516, Loewe serial 13, https://jamesdjulia.com/?p=548180, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  16. Poulin Auctions, lot 25-3438, Fall 2025, DWM serial 2915, https://www.poulinauctions.com/2025/08/14/documented-siamese-marked-dwm-c93-, consulted 2026-10-18; quoting Görtz and Sturgess p. 141. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  17. Giorgio Brancaglion and Roberto Allara, all4shooters.com, 4 July 2024, https://www.all4shooters.com/it/tiro/armi-storiche-repliche/pistola-da-collezione-borchardt-93-in-calibro-7-65x25/, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  18. Rock Island Auction Company, lot 4093-1368, 7 December 2024, “Ludwig Loewe 1893 Borchardt pistol rig sn 19 with inscribed case”, https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4093/1368/, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  19. Joe Engesser, “The Borchardt C93 Pistol”, Rock Island Auction Company blog, 14 October 2024, https://www.rockislandauction.com/riac-blog/borchardt-c93-pistol, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  20. Rock Island Auction Company, lot 89-409, 25 August 2023, “Ludwig Loewe Model 1893 Borchardt semiautomatic pistol”, https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/89/409/ludwig-loewe-model-1893-borchardt-semiautomatic-pistol, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  21. US Office of Naval Intelligence, General Information Series No. XV (July 1896), p. 131, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  22. Rock Island Auction Company, lot 60-1360, 8 December 2013, stock and holster only, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  23. James D. Julia, Firearms, October 2017, lot 2005, Loewe serial 463, https://jamesdjulia.com/?p=554250, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  24. Morphy Auctions, Extraordinary Firearms, 18 May 2022, lot 1353, “Original Borchardt C93 case with accessories”, https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/ORIGINAL_BORCHARDT_C93_CASE_WITH_ACCESSORIES_-LOT531196.aspx, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  25. Poulin Auctions, lot 01-29022, Summer 2026, Loewe serial 1013, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  26. Giorgio Brancaglion, “Hermann Historica auction 104: all the results”, all4shooters.com, 13 May 2025, https://www.all4shooters.com/en/shooting/culture/hermann-historica-auction-number-all-results/, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  27. Collectors Firearms, “Borchardt C93 semi-auto pistol 7.65x25mm”, serial 1910, https://collectorsfirearms.com/product/borchardt-c93-semi-auto-pistol-7-65x25mm-ah9044/, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  28. James D. Julia, Firearms, March 2016, lot 2614, DWM serial 1962, https://jamesdjulia.com/?p=539605, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  29. Ron Wood, “Borchardt - Luger Predecessor”, LugerForum, 5 April 2011, https://forum.lugerforum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=192957, consulted 2026-10-18. Forum post. ↩

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