Hello Richard and welcome to the forum!
Lets take your message and look at it.
[quote]He was told it was a German officerâ??s sidearm. ...The pistol has a bright, reflective finish (stainless/chrome/nickel?) [frame & barrel] with black bakelite grips and a high quality tan leather holster. Frame marks include, â??P.08â?, â??6623â?, numerous â??23â?â?? marks visible on assorted frame parts. On the right side of the frame is a tiny Third Reich emblem (eagle over swastika) stamp. The right side frame also has several other tiny stamped glyphs that I canâ??t interpret. The barrel is marked both â??6623â? and â??881â? with a Third Reich emblem stamp identical to the frame. Iâ??m guessing 6623 is the mfg. S/N. <hr></blockquote>
The 6623 is the serial number, on the frame, in front of the grip, just under the serial number, does it have a letter, it will be sylized and maybe hard to figure out, this would be a part of the serial number. The 8.81 is the land diameter of the barrel when it was accepted.
Also, in addition to the serial #, the proof markings and acceptance markijngs are very important. At the Old Luger Forum you can find sheets that show you infromation, that can be reached by going to
www.lugerforum.com and click the link that says tech information.
No Lugers (with a few, very few exceptions) were chromed, or more than likely nickled. This was very common just after the war by US GI's and is probably what happened to your Luger. Most Lugers were for officers, but many enlisted guys carried them, much as in our military, those jobs that require hands free would be issued a pistol.
I collect stories and pictures of guns like this that your Dad bought, traded, etc., and will eventually write a book, so any detailed stories and pictures you can send me would be cool.