Hello Ralph !
Belated welcome to our Forum...
I am just a beginner myself, only having the luger bug for ~ 10 months.
One thing that I look for in an old luger is that build-up of "brownish" gunk that I think is years of oxidized, old gun oil and lubricants. If a gun is restored/refinished; there is usally a degreasing and/or steam cleaning or ultra-sonic cleaning step to remove all of this so the surface will be ready for the refinish.
If you have a chance to see this gun, apart, you might look for this.
I have included a photo of my old 1920 DWM Commerical police rework, that shows this "gunk".
If the price is in the $ 400-600 range, (based on CA-State pricing) I would not hesitate to buy this luger; refinished or not...as long as it is in good working, mechanical order.
Regards,
Pete... <img src="graemlins/yltype.gif" border="0" alt="[typing]" />