Hi Rich,
No, no letters on the left side. What do you think about the markings on the right side top-forward (4 in a row, new pictures above) ? The two guns do look very much alike !

A.

I can't make them out...Can you take a hi-res closeup and then just crop it to show the marks???

Andy emailed me his proofs blowup; anyone recognize the stamps???

They are WW1 proofs which appear to have been sanded/ground over. Bill

S/42 8"
 

OK, Now the plot thickens. The body of this Luger and all parts in match I think with no question. The barrel we know does not. My question now is according to "Blue Book of Gun Values" The earliest that any S/42 code made was 1934. Did they take WWI Luger's and under commercial contracts turn them into S/42's ?
Anyway, I took the Luger today (that I now call my "long Tom Luger" ) to the range. It shoots like a dream !! I've shot many handguns in my day, but this was a real treat. 20 yards for the first 10 rounds and 8 inside the 8" target circle. A very,very nice shooter.

No... commercials have DWM, Mauser banner, or Kriegoff toggles.
S/42 is the 'military' code for Mauser.

Andy
The toggle on your luger is from 1934-1939. The frame, which has an artillery notch, is from an artillery or an Erfurt from 1914-1918. They were never together originally. The number 73 on the toggles is a number matching the frame but in number only.In the luger numbering sequence the number 73 came up many times. One only needed to find a 73 toggle to go with the frame. It looks from your diagram that the trigger is number 16. Again, if so, a mismatch. For $ 1600 you could get a good collectible or two shooters. I am not trying to be a know it all. I do not consider myself to be a luger expertr. However after collecting them for 45+ years I hope I have obtained some knowledge. The forum is designed to help all of us learn , gain knowledge and hopefully avoid mistakes. I hope you accept my comments in this vein. My final comment if you can get your money back or a reduction in cost do it. Respectfully. Bill

Thanks Bill, As the blind man said "now I see" This is exactly what I was looking for. The truth !! I couldn't agree more with you about the forum. While it might end up being a costly lesson to me, It's one I'm sure to never forget. Hopefully no one else on the forum will either. I hope to get satisfaction with the price and keep the gun. I would like to find a Erfurt 1914-18 toggle to replace the S/42 one. Is finding one a possibility ?

A.

Andy
You could probably find an Erfurt toggle but probably a 73 with difficulty. I would leave it like it is and enjoy shooting it. Toggles run around $300 and would serve no purpose since the barrel is not original. We have all made purchasing mistakes and have learned from them. That is part of the collecting world. Enjoy. Bill