[tony k]

I blame Y2K. No, really. I think now that we're in the 21st Century, there's a growing nostalgia for those high moments of the last century, when everyone pulled together to fight the Axis powers ....


So what you've got is new "history collectors" that just want to own a piece of something glorious. They do not understand the fine points of collecting firearms, and they don't understand why a shiny reblue isn't worth way more than an 80 % original -- hey, they are both Lugers, carried and fought with by the Nazis, right? If they can get something that looks historical to them for $600, why pay $1,200 for another one that is more worn?


These are the same folks that pass up honest "survivor" classic cars and instead buy ones that are 110 % overrestored. (Or worse, they buy the survivors and restore THEM, in the process destroying the car's historical integrity.)


I really fear a return to the standards of the '50s, when honest guns were "prettied up" to make them sell better. Money drives a market. SOMEONE is buying these overpriced recent imports, and if they have more money than we do, they may wind up making the market rules, tossing originality by the wayside.


OTOH, maybe I'm just getting paranoid ;}