I hope everyone had a Blessed Christmas and that a Happy New Year will follow.

Those are some very nice Walthers Steve. Congradulations on your growing collection. The RFV PP is very nice. It is a little known fact, that in 1935 the RFV supplied a limited number of their Walther PPs to the newly formed SS-Higa (Hilfsgrenzschutz) units assisting with border control. A fascinating Walther pistol that does not get much play are those PPKs with the "W" suffix. Produced in 1939, this small odd production run in the late 180,000 and 190,000 range features a "W" suffix instead of the usual "K". Dieter Marschall theorized that the production was early Wehrmacht contract, but of course the individual branches purchased their own weapons and why wouldn't a WaA be found? The change occurred at approximately the time that Walther began a revamped serial arrangement. A variety of suffixes were introduced for different models in order to simplify the serial numbering system. Was this "W" PPK a special contract or simply an error in application of the suffix? More research is necessary.

Dieter proposed the Criminal Polizei Berlin explanation for the C.P.B. marked PPKs and prefaced his theory with the note that the letter C and K were interchangeable into the early 1930s. A marking by the Berlin Police in the time frame of the production of these pistols would have had to follow either the 1932 Prussian Police Orders of Marking. All weapons of the Kriminalpolzei of Berlin would have to be marked "K.B.". And if the markings were pre-1932, they would reflect earlier Berlin Detective Police markings which were P.P.B.IV. The most logical theory for a meaning to C.P.B. is "Commerz-und Privat Bank", a very large regional bank in the 1930s that is still in existence today as Commerz-Bank.

Looking forward to greeting you at the SOS Andy.

"This hobby is a continuing education"
Looking for Walther Model 8 #727649
and Walther PP #975557