[Kyrie]

Hi Dean,


Alas, very little about collecting Lugers is simple :-(


It's not that "...it's impossible to recognize the "original" #21 holdopen in a crowd" or that "then it must also be impossible to recognize an unoriginal one...".


It's:


1) Impossible to *find* the original hold open as they were generally only removed when broken or too worn, or were removed with all the rest of the salvageable parts from a pistol that was beyond repair. The original hold open is most likely gone - destroyed long ago.


2) It is possible, in most cases, to detect a fake that has been created by swapping parts.


3) Even if the original hold open was still serviceable and existed somewhere in the world, it's wishful thinking that the first hold open one comes across with the number "21" happens to be the single and only hold open number "21" that went with the pistol one has. Think of it as finding a lottery ticket on the street for next week's drawing. Would anyone then spend all their money and take out enormous loans in the reasonable belief that he had found the winning ticket? This may seem like a silly comparison, but the odds aren't that different :-(


Try thinking of it this way. Suppose, purely for the sake of discussion, that you had ten Lugers all with the number "21" as the last two digits of the serial number and all had mismatched hold opens. If you were then to find a hold open with the number "21", which pistol would it belong with?


I hope this helps get a feel for the situation.


Best regards,


Kyrie