[John Sabato]

Ken, welcome to the Lugerforum... whatever you did to take the photo of the holster, you should duplicate to take the photos of the rest of the angles of the luger itself... the distance, lighting, and focus of the holster are fine... try again for better photos. A tripod is highly recommended to eliminate the out of focus condition caused by shutter shake.

in addition to the bluing on the gun being original, it is also very important on whether or not all the parts are matching in number... the last two digit of the serial number should be on most of the parts. If any part differs in the digit from the serial number, the value is substantially reduced from what it would be if all the parts are original as they came from the factory.

Unfortunately, the grips appear to have had the checkering sanded off... this also substantially reduces what the gun would be worth if they had not been modified...

I agree that to sell a family heirloom is a heartbreak... there is no recovery from such a move. Once the heirloom is the property of someone else, it is very unlikely they could ever get it back. Perhaps they can raise the money another way...

I hope this has been helpful... we look forward to more photos.