Tom,
I have always considered Luger collection as being simular to coin collecting. There, as in Luger collecting, the chamber dates represents something important, to me at least. To call a model 1914 a final design 1.1 without referring to a chamber date of either 1916 or 1917 would diminish the importance of those dates just as it would in coins
Then you would further diminish the importance of chamber dates if you called all artillery lugers simply model 1914 final design 1.1. to speak nothing of the confusion it would cause when you pay $3500 for a model 1914 final design 1.1 thinking you bought a 1916 navy and then getting a comparatively common 1917 artillery. Both are model 1914's and both are final designs.
I get mad at auctioneers who advertise a 1914 DWM artillery Luger for sale only to find out that they ment that they have a model 1914 artillery with a 1917 chamber date and not the more expensive chamber dated 1914 DWM artillery. Rock Island autioneers are terribly guilty of that. To me, that demonstrates their stupidity and a failed attempt on their part to look intellectual.
What would you call an 1900AE? There is no model designation for that Luger or any other commercial 1900 or 1906.
Then there are the Kreighoff's. Would you refer to them simply as model 1908 final design 1.1 or maybe 1913 final design 1.1 or maybe model 1908 final design 1.2 and let it go at that? You see, it gets a bit hairy when your thoughts get expanded. A numbering system that applies to one type of Luger must be transferable to all Lugers or you have accomplished nothing more than to add to the confusion.
Personally, I think that if someone can afford to buy a 1906 navy, they should have the intelligence to differentiate the difference between only the four 1906 navy Lugers that are available.
Maybe your designation for THE 1904 navy as a prototype might warrant further thought. But since those navys are so very rare and expensive it would be simply an academic exercise anyway.
Another (and final) personal thought would be to abolish model designations entirely. The above mention of the Rock Island auctioneers naming all DWM artilleries as 1914 DWM artilleries is a fine example of misleading advertising. The elimination of the model designations would force those yahoos to refer to the chamber dates instead of the model in their artillery Luger descriptions.
Big Norm
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