I believe that the reason the seller thought this pistol was a reworked Spreewerk was the grinding marks on the slide. Yes, superficially, they do remind you of that but closer examination reveals otherwise. Where Spreewerk marks are curved and slant in one direction, the grind marks on every N series I've seen, while curved, are at a lesser radius and are angled both forward and back. They also have grind marks running generally parallel to the bottom edge of the slide. Additionally, the "P.38" script and wartime inspection marks are absent (not ground off, mind you, but never applied in the first place).
Here's a good example of the marks on the right rear of the slide. Notice also that this is where inspection and acceptance stamps would be placed on a wartime example:
The entire right side:
Typically, an N series has a spot in the same place on both sides of the slide where the bluing took differently. I assume this has something to do with heat treating. Right side:
Same area on the left side:
Note absence of "P.38" script. Again, careful examination of the slide reveals that this mark was not removed. Rather, it was never applied in the first place
Faintly struck at the front left of the slide is a partially struck Crown/N inspection stamp similar to if not identical to the clearly struck one on the frame which we will look at later:
The bare steel just behind the "N" is unknown to me. Whether something banged into the pistol at some point or a marking was removed here, I cannot say.
The entire left side of the slide:
Notice the long relief cut at the mouth of the housing for the extractor plunger and spring. This detail is markedly different than wartime examples.
A closeup of the sloppily applied serial number on the slide:
Safety markings showing just the smallest remnants of paint still present:
A couple pictures of an East German manufactured P08 barrel extension for comparison. This particular one really does look like it was done by Spreewerk:
In the next post, we'll finish up with the slide by looking at its innards a little bit.