Ok. I finally found my proof mark book. The crown S, crown U, and crown W indicate that this is an East German gun that was built after 1950 and before 1970 when Sauer marked guns were no longer produced in the east. The production floor was taken by the Soviets in '45 and then manufacturing was resumed in Suhl using the Sauer name around 1950. They are fairly rare because after the war, the West Germans legally began to manufacture Sauer after the owner sold the rights in the West. A similar thing happened with Zeiss optics. Obviously, West Germany was not an eager importer of what they considered to be a bootleg product.
The post-war communist guns need to be judged individually. Many of the same craftsmen who built the wonderful pre-war Suhl made Sauers were now building the same guns in the newly created East German workers' paradise. One will be a terrific work of craftsmanship, the next might have excellent metal work and a 2x4 for a stock. One set of engraving is first rate and the next cartoonish. Nevertheless, they generally were solid guns. However, this is one more reason to have it thoroughly checked over by a good gunsmith.
One good thing is that the East German guns had 70mm chambers.
