Telltale Signs of a Refinished Luger

[Eugen]

Originally Posted by Dwight Gruber

Be careful. Many refinishers have caught on to this one, and are "re-whiting" this pin. Be suspicious of pins which are too bright--almost polished--and dead even with the surface of the toggle piece.

Originally these pins were simply cut off (lathe cut) from stock and pressed into place. They have a characteristic "teat" in the center, remnant of the cutting process. A pin end which is smooth has been removed and tapped back into place by a hammer. The pins were often pressed just below the toggle surface, and can be rimmed by grime. The pin faces do not really rust but they do considerably darken with age, to the extent that it is often extremely difficult to differentiate them from the adjacent blued surface. There is a slight color difference, which sometimes shows up a little better in photos than by eye.

--Dwight

Golly, Dwight, there are some sneaky folks out there. But, then an honest guy trying to restore his precious Luger will want to do the same thing. I have sure learned a lot in this thread from all the comments from the masters.