Circa WWI J.L. Galef general catalog | ||
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Founded in the late nineteenth century, Galef handled military goods – including some Parabellums – in the period before Stoeger gained the sole distributorship in the early 1920s.1
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The J.F. Galef catalog shown is not dated but appears to be published in 1919 or the early 1920s, shortly after WW1 as the Luger carbine featured on the catalog appears to be a new model grip safety dished toggle knob configuration. Advertising a new model carbine is unusual as prior to the 1920s it was a very rare item. The comment on page 9 that: “It is impossible to import brand new Luger pistols…." coincides with the early post war years indicating the import of reconditioned Lugers, prior to the remanufacture of new Lugers. J.L.Galef apparently sold Luger ammunition as noted on page 2 and although no boxed Luger ammunition has been identified with J.L. Galef, they did import ammunition as shown in the figure below with J.L. Galef identified as the importer and distributor. It is not known whether the advertised Luger ammunition was imported or domestic but there is no doubt that boxed Luger ammunition exists with J.L. Galef on the label.
Left side  Right sideFront side
1The Luger Book by J. Walters, Copyright © 1986, p 119. | ||
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