Gosh,
I am glad that I got all my artilleries when I did. These prices for 1916 and 1917's are really going up fast. A year and a half ago I picked up a 1915 with matching stock and mag for $1900. A little while later I picked up an Erfurt also with matching mag and stock for $2200. No leather on either. Condition was good but not mint. No pitting on either. Lots of money, I thought. But they are looking better every day.
I am convinced that if you buy good lugers they are definately, at worst, a great preservation of capital investment and, at best, a great investment. A few years ago I came across a chamber dated 1914 DWM artillery with a matching mag for $3500. It was my birthday so I said to myself, "do it!". A week after that, a second one came up for $3400. It also had a matching mag and was also in good shape. I thought,"trade bait" and I took it. So being the big mouth that I am, I started bragging about my extravagance. Some guy heard me yaking and he said that he had one for $1500. I looked at it and saw that it was a nice Weimar reblue with repro grips and no mag but, otherwise, in good shape. Like the dummy that I am, I took it. Afterward, I couldn't help but ask myself where my head was on all these guns. It seemed like I got carried away. But now I am looking at the current blue book and see that a chamber dated 1914 DWM artillery is worth 200% the price of a comparable DWM from other years. My stupidity is beginning to look not so stupid.
Big Norm
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