Star Firearms

Crests & Other Stamps

An interesting facet of any older firearm is determining its history. For most Stars, there is no way to track down their history, but one of the best general indicators may be if it has a crest indicating issue to some army, police or paramilitary group.

I am very much not an expert in this field, so will rely on you to send me good images, and tell me who the the crest belongs to. Also, to keep up the standards, I will try to trace them all so they are clearly posted. More will be coming when I get around to it, this is just for starters.

Guardia Civil

The Guardia Civil is a Spanish federal paramilitary police force of the type called a gendarmerie in many countries (for comparison, see the similar Italian Carabinieri and French Gendarmerie). It was founded in 1844 by Queen Isabel II of Spain largely as a border police, which remains one of its primary duties.

The color image below is the full insignia of the Guardia. Some of all of it may be found on firearms as a rollmark, but most carry the simplified version with the elaborate GC letters, and the crown, as shown in the black and white variant.

 

At least one source reports that some pistols issued to the Guardia will not have this crest, and will simply be marked with "CG" on the right side of the frame.

Cuerpo Superior de Policia

"CSP" on the right side of the slide indicates issuance by the Spanish National Police or Cuerpo Nacional de Polic&1acute;a as they are now called.

German Landespoleizi

The German Landespoleizi is a group of law enforcement organizations, one per german state, broadly equivalent to the state police organizations in the US. They should not be confused with the German Federal Police.

Star Pistols (and possibly others) issued to them in post-war East Germany carry the stamp "LPN" on the frontstrap (the usual abbreviation for the police is LaPo sot it may eventually emerge its something else or more specific, like the mark for just the Northrhine-Westphalia force, perhaps). The also usually meet other german military requirements, and have the last three digits of the serial on most parts. They will all carry the conventional commerial production proofmarks on the frame, as well as the "passing of proof" mark on the barrel, usually on the barrel hood.