Mr. Trotter,
Your comment that lacking Waffenamt acceptance marks would indicate that this PPK was produced for commercial sales is entirely incorrect. As Mr. Molchen indicated the RZM protection mark was applied to all equipment procured for the Nazi Party (NSDAP). There was a block of PPKs produced under contract for the NSDAP from serial number 820 000 K to serial number 845 000 K. All guns within this serial number range have the RZM mark and were produced under contract to the NSDAP.
There were a great many other PP/PPKs produced for various organizations. None bore military acceptance Waffenamts and also were not by any means commercial. Some of these are: RFV, RBD, SA, NSKK, RPLT Persian, SS, DRP. There were more and for me that is what makes the PP/PPKs fascinating. The wide variety and collectibility of guns containing these factory markings.
In the case of the RZM PPKs, all were earned by and issued ONLY to Political Leaders within the NSDAP for service to the NSDAP. So as you can see, this would not under any circumstances be a pistol purchased commercially during a visit to Germany. Rather, this gun would have changed hands almost certainly from a Nazi Political Leader to the General likely as an honored gift.
Steve Stepan
