The Japanese “MUM” Luger,After World War II a number of Luger pistols began circulating

The Japanese “MUM” Luger,After World War II a number of Luger pistols began circulating through the collectible gun market which were claimed to be rare Japanese licensed production models.  These strange Lugers had Japanese Kanji markings indicating factory of production, caliber, as well as the Japanese Imperial Chrysanthemum markings.  For many suckers, this was proof enough that the sellers story was true.  Unfortunately for them, they had just become victims of the humbuggery and flimflammery that is the Japanese “MUM” Luger.During World War II, Japanese officers were made to purchase their own sidearms.  Since Japanese pistols tended to be of extremely poor quality, it wasn’t uncommon for Japanese officers to buy foreign imports.  German produced Luger pistols were common for sale in Japan.  In addition, the Japanese Army captured and used number of Luger pistols from the Chinese and the Dutch in Indonesia.  Many GI’s who served in the Pacific came home with these pistols as souvenirs, some with ideas on how to make an extra buck or two.  When American forces took over Japanese arsenals and weapons factories, it was not uncommon for Japanese dies and stamps to disappear, smuggled out by American soldiers in order to create a new industry of counterfeit collectible firearms.  Japanese MUM Lugers are an excellent example. Regular German made Lugers were taken, their markings ground off and replaced with Japanese markings.  The Japanese markings alone are a dead giveaway of their fakery, as the Japanese usually never restamped imported pistols.  In addition, the Japanese Imperial Chrysanthemum was only stamped on rifles, rarely on pistols.  Finally, the Japanese markings themselves are often erroneous as American servicemen and other counterfeiters couldn’t translate Kanji writing.  Many MUM lugers are stamped indicating that they are chambered for “8mm Numbu”, revealing that counterfeiters were using captured stamps for Nambu pistols to mark their fake Japanese Lugers. -- source link

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