Turkish Tomato Stake (Danzig 88/05, 1890)

[mauser1908]

Hey everyone! Been catching up on getting some things posted. This was my most recent find, a gunbroker gamble that really paid off. To be frank, the main reason I bought it was for the Königsberg depot marking on the buttplate, they're rarely seen on any rifle. This Danzig 98/05 was earmarked for the Ottoman Empire, although it's hard to say if it was actually delivered. The only evidence is the rear sight, which is matching; it's my understanding that the sights were removed when they remarked them in Farsi and are often m/m. While I'm not savvy with these, I can assume that was done at Spandau. It's all matching with the exception of the bolt, and unit marked to the 42nd Reserve Infantry Regiment.

 

[mauser1908]

 

[mauser1908]

 

[chrisftk]

Sam, that ain't no tomato stake!

Great, clean Turk 88/05. One of the cleanest I've seen. Did you check to see if the rear sight is mm?

 

[mauser1908]

Sam, that ain't no tomato stake!

Great, clean Turk 88/05. One of the cleanest I've seen. Did you check to see if the rear sight is mm?

Thanks Chris! I was being facetious because some people won’t own them if they have a Turkish past. I did, the rear sight is actually matching.

 

[PrayingMantis]

Great rifle Sam, excellent find! I think a lot of people would turn up their noses because of the Turkish rear sight, not understanding they were German made. Hell, this thing might not have even made it to the Ottomans. Thanks for the detailed photos, it's in the reference!

 

[Fal Grunt]

I was going to say, tomato stake hell, that's nicer than all of my 88's! By a significant margin too!

I'm working on some interesting 88/05 information that I hope to post before too long, we will have to pull some empirical data from rifles like this one.

 

[MichaelWC]

Great looking Gew 88/05 Sam. That's actually Arabic not Farsi. Farsi is the modern Persian or now the language of Iran. The Ottoman Empire spoke about 100 or so different dialects of Arabic. Many of the Ottoman Mausers are marked with Arabic. That type Arabic is known as high Arabic. The only people who spoke high Arabic where the ottoman elites and some Military Officers. Here is a chart that gives a good example of the differences in numbers between Arabic and Farsi.

 

[chrisftk]

Great looking Gew 88/05 Sam. That's actually Arabic not Farsi. Farsi is the modern Persian or now the language of Iran. The Ottoman Empire spoke about 100 or so different dialects of Arabic. Many of the Ottoman Mausers are marked with Arabic. That type Arabic is known as high Arabic. The only people who spoke high Arabic where the ottoman elites and some Military Officers. Here is a chart that gives a good example of the differences in numbers between Arabic and Farsi.
View attachment 343398

That's actually not Arabic either. It's Eastern Arabic.

Western Arabic are the numbers we know in most of the western world. Eastern Arabic was later discouraged by Attaturk post WW1 and the sights were often scrubbed a second time and western Arabic numbers were once again stamped on them.



Here's an example of a re-scrubbed and re-stamped sight.

 

[MichaelWC]

That's actually not Arabic either. It's Eastern Arabic.

Western Arabic are the numbers we know in most of the western world. Eastern Arabic was later discouraged by Attaturk post WW1 and the sights were often scrubbed a second time and western Arabic numbers were once again stamped on them.

View attachment 343407

Here's an example of a re-scrubbed and re-stamped sight.
View attachment 343409

Thanks Chris.

 

[mauser1908]

Great rifle Sam, excellent find! I think a lot of people would turn up their noses because of the Turkish rear sight, not understanding they were German made. Hell, this thing might not have even made it to the Ottomans. Thanks for the detailed photos, it's in the reference!

Thanks Cyrus! Exactly, I definitely used to behave like this, then I grew up lol.

I was going to say, tomato stake hell, that's nicer than all of my 88's! By a significant margin too!

I'm working on some interesting 88/05 information that I hope to post before too long, we will have to pull some empirical data from rifles like this one.

Thanks Nathaniel, I was just trying to grab attention with that one. Looking forward to seeing your work!

Great looking Gew 88/05 Sam. That's actually Arabic not Farsi. Farsi is the modern Persian or now the language of Iran. The Ottoman Empire spoke about 100 or so different dialects of Arabic. Many of the Ottoman Mausers are marked with Arabic. That type Arabic is known as high Arabic. The only people who spoke high Arabic where the ottoman elites and some Military Officers. Here is a chart that gives a good example of the differences in numbers between Arabic and Farsi.
View attachment 343398

Thanks Mike! Thanks for the info!