[mrerick]

When collectors refer to a Luger as "matching", it would mean that all the parts on the pistol were on it the day it left the DWM or Erfurt or Mauser or Krieghoff (etc) factory, and that the factory applied the numbers to keep the fitted parts together when the gun was later cleaned or serviced.

During reworks like yours, the armory had the expertise to fit used parts from multiple donor pistols as well as new armory replacement parts to the rework. Thus, they also marked the pistols by obliterating older numbers and adding new "matching" numbers.

The most highly valued Lugers are those that are as close to factory state as possible. Reworks like yours are an exception to some collectors that specialize in Police pistols, and would consider police reworks collectible. There are not that many of these collectors, so the demand is proportionally less as would be the valuations.

An experienced collector knows the characteristics of the numbering applied by factories to the pistols they produced, and can generally identify renumbered or "force matched" pistols as such. There are also experienced fakers that engage in fraudulently marking Lugers to try and boost their value. This is one of the reasons forums of enthusiastic volunteers like the participants in this thread are so valuable and important to the collecting community.