;
|
Imperial Luger with Thai KOR TOR and NAGA marks Pictures and information presented on this web
site may not be used in whole, or in part, without prior written permission
from the author and copyright holder |
|
Imperial
Luger with Thai markings. The book “The Mauser
Parabellum – analysis of a million of Luger pistol” by Joop van
de Kant and Don R. Hallock, describes some Imperial Luger pistol used by the
Thai Police. These pistols survived WWI and were sold as surplus to the Royal
Thai Police somewhere between 1919 and 1937. The Royal Thai Police started using
Imperial Lugers before that the Mauser Parabellum contract was set up. Most probably, they decided to pass
the contract to Mauser for the “new” Parabellum simply because
they were satisfied with the Imperial surplus pistols already in use. The contract passed to Mauser in
1936-1937 is absolutely understandable considering the fact that:
In the end, the selection of the
“new” Mauser Parabellum is a cost/effective solution because
allows the reuse of competence with no impact in the logistic management. One of the main differences between
the Mauser Parabellum and the Imperial ones, used by the Thai Police, is a
specific Until now, no Mauser Parabellum
pistols have been reported with this specific mark. Only a small number of Imperial
Lugers with Thai Police marks have been reported, but they are enough to
propose possible theories. Before introducing the theories,
let’s clarify the meaning of the marks.
Picture 1: From the Görtz Archive:
M. Baudino Collection
Picture 2: Imperial Artillery Luger
with Regimental Mark, Kor Tor and NAGA marks. M. Baudino Collection Kor Tor (กท) Kor Kai or
Kor (ก) is the
first letter of the 44 letters of the Thai alphabet. Tor Thahan
or Tor (ท) is
another letter of the Thai alphabet. This
acronym is read "Kor Tor (กท)" and it is considered to be the abbreviation of Krung
Thep, the Thai name for This
interpretation has been validated by Thai sources (see paragraph Sources) as
well as by the Thai Embassy in Considering
the fact that, one of the pistols with the Kor Tor mark shows an Old The number that
follows is definitely big and cannot be considered the number of pistols in
use. It is most probably a serial number for all the guns available. NAGA The
NAGA is a mythic animal for One of the more beautiful elements of Thai
temples and spiritual places is that of the Naga. Naga is a Sanskrit and Pali
word for a deity that takes the form of the great snake, often a king cobra. For the occidental point of view it is easy to
confuse the mark used in the Parabellum pistol, above the lanyard ring, with
a lion or an elephant instead of a Naga, closer to the Thai tradition. The author considers more realistic the interpretation of this symbol as a NAGA instead of a Lion or an Elephant although there is not definitely evidence of that.
Picture
3,4: NAGA, it is mythic
animal for
Picture 5: Imperial Navy Luger with
Kor Tor and NAGA marks. Giuliano Alfinito Collection
Picture 6: Rebarreled Imperial
Artillery Luger with NAGA marks. Courtesy Giuliano Alfinito. Consideration The
first picture form the Görtz archive, shows a Imperial Parabellum with the
Kor Tor mark but no the NAGA. The
second and third Imperial Parabellum described, have both the Kor Thor and
the NAGA marks. The
Fourth and then all the Mauser Parabellum don’t have the Kor Thor mark. First hypothesis It
is a fact that the Mauser Parabellum pistols do not receive the Kor Tor mark
used by the It
could be that the Mauser Parabellum pistols were not provided to the In
this case, the This
hypothesis seems not realistic because the number of pistols indicated by the
three digits after the NAGA is small; it represents most probably the number
of pistols used by the Second hypothesis Initially
the pistols used by the At
a certain point, the NAGA mark was introduced for all the pistols and the
department mark was not used anymore. It
means that the pistol with the Kor Tor mark have been re-marked with the NAGA
mark except the ones not in service anymore; this can justify why the first
luger analyzed, from the Görtz archive, shows only the Kor Tor mark and not
the NAGA. This pistol, most probably, has been kept by the policeman and it
was not submitted to the NAGA re-stamp. All
the others “new” pistols received only the NAGA stamp and not the
department one. The
second hypothesis seems, at least to the author, more credible and should be
retained until no additional evidences are found. Conclusion These
Thai ( The
only document available is the certificate released by the Major General
Vitoon Pitugpol, Commander of the Quarter Master division in Bangkok, to ODIN
certifying that the Mauser Parabellum pistols were used by the Thai Police
(see The Mauser Parabellum 1930 – 1946 by Joop van de Kant and Don
Hallock - page 502. It
is definitely difficult to have information from the Thai authorities and the
tentative of contacting Additional
information or evidences provided by collectors are crucial to increase the
knowledge about this exotic variation. Source of the pictures. The
first picture analyzed is from the Joachim Görtz files in the author
collection now. The
second picture is from the author collection. The
third and fourth pictures are kindly provided by Giuliano Alfinito. Sources. The
author would like to thank: Joop van de Kant and Don R. Hallock for
starting the researches about the Imperial Luger with Thai marks. Uma Sengsomwang Senior Export Sales Executive
(Marketing Division) THAI WATANA PANICH PRESS CO., LTD. for the information
provided about the marks. Giuliano Alfinito for the pictures of the Imperial Luger with Kor Tor and NAGA mark. |
|
Pictures and information presented on this web
site may not be used in whole, or in part, without prior written permission
from the author and copyright holder |
