[John Sabato]

Jim, you have hit it on the head.

cnv2855,

Years from now, when you will no longer have the privilege of conversing with your mother, you will remember the things that she gave you, and why giving them to you was important to her... that will make them important to you. Don't ask me how I know... I'll just say that I've been there and done that...

My Dad brought back a Luger from WW2... it was a mismatched numbered, run of the mill Mauser pistol with about 50% of its original finish. The day my Dad died, it was handed to me. It will never leave my family... because it is priceless to me.

If you mother still has the paperwork from when she bought the gun, maybe you can find out for sure how much it cost... and who sold it to her....you never answered the question about whether or not your Mom could make a mistake in the number of zero's... I know that both of my parents had a hard time remembering details of such things in their final years.