Bob,
the nice thing about Imperial Lugers as versus a Nazi Era Luger is the consistency of production all the bluing was the same. The size of the numbering is the same from one gun to the next. A 1913 Erfurt will compare to a 1918 Erfurt. A 1912 DWM will compare to a 1917 DWM. An Erfurts proof marks will be different from a DWM because the Erfurt was made at the royal arsenal and DWM was made by a private company. Erfurts will have crown inspectors marks all over the place including the grip screws. But don't reject the gun if the grip screws don't have the proof marks though.
The remarks by the above people are good. But I dont think I would kick the gun out of bed if the grips did not have matching numbers. As a collector, I usually keep 5-10 recheckered unnumbered original grips around to replace broken grips. So if the grips are repros or have the million dollar chip up by the saftey, that might influence the price a bit but not necessarily be a cause for rejection. Ebay has tons of original grips for sale. A matching magazine is a plus but I would not reject the gun if the mag was a repro or a mismatch. Check the bore. Sometimes they are really bad on WW1 guns. The ammo of that period wasn't so good.
Something that would cause me to reject a gun would be bad outside pitting. Thats right up there with a mismatched gun. Then there is the matter of whether or not you like the general appearance of the gun. At $750, that is not a bad general price if you approve of the general looks of the gun.
Big Norm
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