A couple of years ago I bought a superb 1940 police banner police Luger from a dealer's showcase. This was absolutely mint with matching magazine, the most perfect Luger I have ever seen. I tried to take it down to check all the numbers, and the cannon was stuck and wouldn't slide off the frame. Anyway, the dealer and I managed to get it off with a lot of pulling and cussing, and we both decided the pistol was so mint that it just needed some breaking in. Well, $1500 later it belonged to me. About three years after that I decided I had no real interest in non-military Lugers, so I let somebody talk me out of it for $2200. Three hours after the deal he called me up and said he found the reason it was so stiff. It had a hairline crack in one of the rails. Well, I returned his money and sold it in disgust to a young collector who didn't mind the defect and he was happy to get it for $700. Yes, that was a pretty expensive lesson!
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