There are still buys out there...
 

1939 S/42 Serial #9252 O, rather difficult to find. Local gunshow - with 2 correct non-matching mags and WWI holster. All matching, including grips. Mags non-matching, one with correct suffix, 412 numbers off. Most wear is holster wear on left front of barrel and rib of side plate. Excellent bore. Paid $825.

?????? !!!!!!

The market has tanked to 3 digits???

I noticed some people are willing to sell guns under value. One guy even persuaded me to do the same because he had done that (of course, I decided not following his leadership).

Alvin
No I do not think the market has changed all that much on collectible firearms. This was a case of a person selling who did not have any luger knowledge and only wanted to get back what he had allowed on a guntrade. He was happy and so was I! Most of the good lugers I see are still pricey. Bill

Hey Bill, give you $850...
dju

Thanks Bill. I think I got it.

This must be grandson selling grandpa's property, no matter how cheap it was sold, the grandson never feels painful. It came to him too easy.

GREAT catch, Bill!

FN

Hey Bill,

That's a great deal. Beautiful ! Congratulations!

Ron

Nice going Bill!! Tough to find 1939 S/42 Lugers!!

Congrats.

Congrats Bill!

Just curious, in the first photo, is that a halo around the S/42 on the toggle?

I'm with Alvin on this... They may end up being bargains to us, but I believe that as the WW2 vets pass from our midst, we are going to see more and more war trophy Lugers that have been taken out of GrandDad's closet where they have been sacredly hiding for 65 years and be sold for whatever they can get quickly...

It saddens my heart to see how little these pieces of a grandfather's history are cared about by the current generation of kids... :(

Yes that was a sweet deal.

Eric
Yes the S/42 has a halo affect around it. Maybe our Mauser experts can explain this but it's not uncommon. At least I have seen it before. A couple Mausers in Jan Still's Third Reich book show this. Bill

Bill, you did well, congrats on one that has eluded me so far.
I don't claim to be an expert, but the halo is caused by the stamp work hardening the metal around it and causing it to take the blue process a little differently if I remember correctly, or Ishould say at all? What were we talking about?

OH yea, lugers! I wouldn't be suprised if the original owner got it for a couple of packs of Lucky Strike. I'll go to $:evilgrin:900.
John

My 1938 has that halo also. Hard to see in this crappy pic that was taken when I first got it and before I cleaned it up. And yes there are deals out there. I got mine all matching #'s (except magazine) and original holster for an old outboard motor I had about $300.00 invested in.

[[IMG]http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/m...6/IMGP2059.jpg[/IMG]

It's a myth on the discoloration around S/42. It's not halo.

S/42 was applied before the steel surface was brushed and blued -- the area is smooth, no steel distoration in the area and no ridge on the stamp edge. But we do see many S/42 come with discolored neighborhood. Why?

One guesstimation was quality related -- the toggle was not cleaned throughly after brushing and some debris with oil stucking in S/42 stamp, so caused this discoloration around it after bluing.

Of course, no proof.

[Edit] Ironically, it's is imperfection that's hard to be replicated by boosters.

Congratulation
 

Bill, very nice catch! Nice Luger! :thumbup:

Bill, Congratulations! Where's the holster?

Jerry Burney

Jerry
The holster that came with this is not very good. Not bad leather but missing the lid. At least there was a correct spare mag in it. The owner was going to look for the top which he once had. Doubt if that will happen. Bill

Trading
 

Traded a guy for a bringback 41 byf in 90% condition he brought back in 1945 for a chiefs special 38 caliber model 19 in 1989 straight across. Miss the 38'as it was so compact. The lugar is a heirloom quality mechanical device. Like my h&k 911 and my delta elite gold cup ss 10mm. The lugar is easily the most natural shooter I own and begineers shoot it really well. Nice 39'. Even a blind hog finds an acorn once in a while.