Hi everyone,

Just joined the forum and read this post - hello from Texas! I'm in my mid-twenties and only recently developed a deep appreciation of WW2 milsurp and relics after visiting multiple museums over a few years.

I have acquired a decent collection with my millennial budget, however the prices for all milsurps have gone up astronomically over the past few years. I regret being late to the game, but collecting was simply not feasible while I was in Uni.

Decided it was time to look for my first WW2 handgun and the Luger was the obvious choice. I know the wartime Lugers will be a little more expensive but I am prepared to shell it out. Looking forward to learning more about these beautiful handguns.

I am thinking about utilizing the trader boards here since I don't feel comfortable enough with my P08 knowledge to be going on Gunbroker.

Welcome to the forum. Good plan on using the forum for purchases. If you get tempted on Gunbroker be sure to post it here BEFORE you buy. The experts here will check out the photos as best they can. If it has poor photos it is probably on purpose.

Thank you! Am I allowed to post GB auctions for review? or only the pictures, etc. I've been trying to go through completed auctions and determining if there is anything off.

Of course you can post links to auctions - at the risk that you may attract another bidder if the gun turns out to be legit. But many collectors are not looking at acquiring more guns at this time, so it's usually more helpful than not in identifying guns that don't measure up to the description.

I had the same thought.

I'd rather have the piece of mind of what I am bidding on being legit even if I do go into a bidding war, than not have any input from the experts on this forum.

Hopefully the folks here with advanced collections will let a guy get his 1st Luger without much competition :)

Classic guns will always be prized... and the Luger is one. As for not making any more, well they are still being made if you read other sections on this blog, and dug battlefield relics and parts are STILL being assembled into working pistols. In fact they have ended and then picked up for production again SEVERAL times in the past. And just like black powder cap and ball pistols, this is likely to continue in the future. Although "anything after 1918 is a copy..." and 'originals' will always be valued.

Right On!!

I'm old also and have appreciated guns all my life. I never differentiated between types of guns (pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns, etc.) until I was in my 30s. Now I only appreciate what I call 'real' guns, those made of steel and wood instead of pot metal and plastic.
The esthetic lines of a well-designed gun are like the figure of a beautiful woman to me. A Luger is a Rita Hayworth while a Glock is a mature Shelley Winters.

The plummeting buying value of currencies makes collecting rare things profitable like 'real' guns and gold coins. I sure hope I'm right because, otherwise, my children will inherit boat anchors instead of Colts and Lugers.

I am much like you - i was not 'serious' about specifics until after I 'retired' from the army - had a luger and 1911 but did not know much about them, which is a shame. Then I joined this forum and became a 'collector' instead of an accumulator of guns. I still buy stuff every now and then but try to research before I do.

Perhaps we tend to collect (or accumulate) things that used to fascinate us when we were young, I remember for instance that when I was a kid I had a grey bakelite squirt pistol in the shape of a Luger, it was my favourite toy gun, too bad that I broke it one Sunday afternoon while playing with my cousin... :crying:

Memories of many years ago aside, I truly believe that is the reason why so many of us "baby boomers" are interested in old firearms, but I'm afraid these interests will fade away over the next generations. . .

they'll probably collect old smartphones! :(

I believe the collecting future of Lugers is quite bright based on the interest and enthusiasm from others when I take my modest shooter collection to the range. Shooters of all ages recognize the pistols and often comment and ask questions. IMO more shooters do not own Lugers because of the perceived cost, relative rarity compared to other types of firearms and an awareness that knowledge is advisable to purchase, evaluate, maintain etc.

IMO for the foreseeable future the Parabellum will remain a popular and iconic bridge to the past and do just fine in terms of holding and moderately increasing in value going forward.

There are a finite amount of legit historic lugers. The rarer the more covetted! Many seem to be disapppearing as their owners pass on!

My 2 cents on the future
 

I think you are right there are a finite amount of serious historic pistols in the world and also a finite amount of people who know the difference and have the resources to collect them, that number is dwindling also. The amount of time and effort to get up to speed on any type of advanced education on Lugers is measured in years and requires a considerable effort in time and money.
I don't think the interest will go away per say but it may very well go to even less collecting to even more speculating in the coming years. That opens up more room for trolls and bottom feeders into the mix, what a shame.
As the education level drops so will the investment value to a certain extent. I've never bought a luger with the thought of making money there are other ways to do that, as opposed to relying on a volatile collector market. Don't get me wrong there are people who maintain collections of anything who buy sell and trade to continually upgrade the collection over time, that in itself is an artform that requires much discipline.
Buy what you like, like what you buy, don't buy because someone else says you need it for your collecting direction, what makes you happy will probably just make the family around you Wonder
when you finally go away for good.
My 2 cents.

I believe that the future of Luger collecting and all firearm collecting depends to a certain extent on what happens on the 3rd of November.

Yes, Trump has been good for the gun market.............

I did my part yesterday to protect our passion.

We did our part!