[JimD]

Well, I almost lost this gun. The way I came across it was a friend was trying to sell it for a lady he knew. Her husband passed away and had taken it off a dead German soldier during the war. She had only told my friend to get a fair price for it. Before I knew how early the gun was and what the markings were I offered $500 and my friend said that would be fine.

He called me the next day and said she wanted more for the gun then told him she had had it appraised for around $1200 and wanted no less than $1000. Apparently she'd done that before she asked him to sell it for her and never told him. She asked for the gun back and wanted to take it to L.A. and have it looked at up there.

I could feel this rare find slipping through my grasp for good so I made the financial stretch and offered her $1000 and she said yes. Whew! That was too close. I didn't want to hang onto the gun for it's higher value but for the history it has. She said I could call her tonight and she'd tell me all about her husband and what she knew about him getting the gun.