Hi Bob,
Another thing to look at and consider is the interior condition of the gun's bore.
If your pistol is pristine and original and showing very little wear, one should expect to see an almost factory-new bore condition as well.
If the bore is worn with well-worn lands & groves, this might indicate the pistol's finish (at one time) showed commensurate wear...
I did see the under-barrel makrings jpeg # 20, but the lighting of the photo has too much glare to tell if the "halo" effects are there or not. Also, make sure the stampings of the word "Germany" is even with each letter having a uniform depth and letter formation. If not, this might be another tell-tale-sign of metal polishing in this area...
If you do a "Search" for the term "Simi-chrome" on the Foruum, you can get some good info. on using this metal polish product to pick up evidence of some rust/oxidation under the blue...
Regards,
Pete... <img border="0" alt="[typing]" title="" src="graemlins/yltype.gif" />