What a sin...

[sphen]

So how badly does doing something like this to a nice Mauser destroy the value? Just curious if big bold initials like this completely kill the value as a collector gun or if it's just a minor depreciation in value? This is of course assuming the rest of the gun (stock, barrel, bore) is in very good condition.

 

[55recce]

Certainly a substantial hit to the value. Stock also looks like it has been varnished. Really need to see more pictures and get a better description of the rifle to be more definitive.

 

[marshall]

That could be fixed if the varnish was stripped and redone properly
I kind of think it has all been redone already.

 

[stampede]

It has that typical 'wavy' look indicating it was sanded by palm of hand without using a block.

 

[bearhunter]

OP, I don't know what your raving about???

That's "Folk Art"

 

[HuskyDude]

How do ya know the rifle didn't belong to K. Paulus...ya can't right???
Could have been his...and now...now it's yours!!!

 

[Grizzly Adams]

How do ya know the rifle didn't belong to K. Paulus...ya can't right???
Could have been his...and now...now it's yours!!!

I never knew his first name till now. No wonder he was miserable enough to kill all those Russians.

Grizz

 

[KePet]

Just gotta find somebody with the right initials.......hint, hint.

 

[HuskyDude]

I never knew his first name till now. No wonder he was miserable enough to kill all those Russians. Grizz

Think I read somewhere he had a twin brother/sister name Friedrich or Frieda....that like to torture cats in canvas bags....

 

[05RAV]

How do ya know the rifle didn't belong to K. Paulus...ya can't right???
Could have been his...and now...now it's yours!!!

That's a joke? The one Paulus who was fighting at Stalingrad was named Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus.

 

[Teac]

That's a joke? The one Paulus who was fighting at Stalingrad was named Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus.

it must be

btw the guy in the pic is Manstein

 

[HuskyDude]

Guess you missed post # 9....
Thank god for Google's "search by image" or op might just keep the rifle...

 

[purple]

Itys pretty obvious that this rifle was captured somewhere in Europe by an American mobile boot repair unit and kept in the unit kitchen to shoot rats. The initials "KP"(kitchen police) are a dead giveaway.

 

[vykkagur]

it must be

btw the guy in the pic is Manstein

 

[vykkagur]

I never knew his first name till now. No wonder he was miserable enough to kill all those Russians.

Grizz

You talk like killing off a lot of Russians is a bad thing.....

 

[Potashminer]

That rifle appears to be a mauser 98? From an earlier conflict - Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902, it was very much a "thing" for Boer soldiers to carve up and identify their rifles - by order of their General Joubert! I have three books, "Carvings from the Veldt" by Dave C George (first, Part Two and Part Three) which document hundreds of those carvings. Most all of those Boer rifles were 1893 pattern Mausers (small ring), although plenty of Guides (sp?) , Lee Enfields and others appear in those books.

 

[Light Infantry]

It looks like there is an “X”, Russian Capture mark on the rifle.

 

[donor]

Coincidently those are my initials lol.I kid you not.

I didn't do it btw.

 

[GeoTrekr]

I never knew his first name till now. No wonder he was miserable enough to kill all those Russians.

Grizz

It's not just Bert Paulus, it's cool Bert Paulus

 

[QM 8687]

I once had 1858 Remington with Johnson on the 1 grip. Many people thought belonged to Gen Johnson CSA. Even if period, must have been 10,000 soldiers by that name.