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FN 1922 Serial Numbers?

34K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  Anthony Vanderlinden 
#1 ·
Gentlemen,

I am confused concerning FN 1922 serial numbers. I understand that wartime serial numbers continued into aprox 155,000 under German occupation. I know that the Germans re-configured the serial numbers to run in blocks of 100,000 with a letter suffix in late 1943 until the end of production in 1944. My understanding is that when the Belgians continued producing this pistol in late 1944 they used an "A" prefix to distinguish the pistols made after liberation. So, my question is were the FN 1922 pistols utilized by various postwar German Police agencies made during the war of after? They seem to fall into the 1943 serial number range since they do not have an "A" prefix. Is this perhaps a special postwar contract serial number run without the prefix letter?

Here is an example of a pistol issued to the postwar Berlin Polizei in the American Zone of Occupation with such a serial number. It has full Belgian proofs (no Germans ones) and no "triangle" stamp on the back of the frame or slide. When was it made?
 

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#2 ·
According to Anthony Vanderlinden's book, all Berlin's police FN 1922 pistols were purchased during the 1950s. The same source (p. 254) also states that "no specific contract numbers were used for any of the German contracts, all pistols had standard postwar FN serial numbers."

The book depicts several guns in same range as yours, for instance, 129912, 130532, 134257 and 140788.

In addition, my guess is the "2" stamped on the trigger bar means "1952" - the manufacturing date. This is the system adopted by FN after the war.

Hope it helps.

Douglas
 
#3 ·
Thanks Douglas. I guess they must have eliminated the "A" prefix and went back to the old serial number range? The M1922s that were issued to the Railway Police have similar serial numbers without a prefix. Here is one of mine that was issued to the Bahnpolizei around the same time period.

I presume they indicate that the pistols were newly manufactured in the 1950s then?
 

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#4 ·
Yes, the A prefix was dropped after a couple of years.
I don't have my books at hand right now, but, if my memory serves me well, the "A" preffix was an indication of guns made still with wartime parts.

The second pistol is also a 50s production gun, indeed.

Douglas
 
#9 ·
New to the forum, trying to identify a family inherited pistol. I believe it to be an FN1922 model in 7.65. It is gold plated, has an anchor symbol on top of slide, sn is 2xxx. Has what appears to be bakolite grips with FN insignia. Has lanyard loop on bottom left of grip. All numbers match, appears to be regular belgium proof marks from the herstal factory. The factory imprint seems to be in Serif, not San Serif which my research says was not used after 1914. I'm really confused, can post pics if anyone thinks they can help. Thanks.
 
#12 ·
Hello,

I also got your email but am responding here... what you have is an early 1930s French Navy contract FN Model 1922 pistol. The pistol in original condition is rare and valuable, the sad part is that somebody went to town on yours with gold plating and white replacement Franzite grips. This effectively destroyed all collector value. Maybe somebody can chime in on what they perceive the value should be in this condition...

Sorry it is not better news
Anthony
 
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