Buying a 1915 LP08...

[OC]

Hello there,

I am about to buy me an LP08. It's (or at least should be) rather a collectible than a shooter -- as much as I like shooting, I am afraid it'd be taking chances, esp. as the gun's (said) to be completely original with all matching numbers -- and the price is not negligible.

The thing is a bit hairy since it's to become my first 08 (yup, a newbie here). Whilst I happen to know a thing or two of these guns (and always wanted one), one thing's reading, another's an experience which I so far, alas, lack. Of course, it would be smarter to buy a cheaper shooter first and go for a collectible later with the experience, but then I might not be able to afford the collectible

Here are the pics (from the seller, not mine) -- I've put them to my server so that there's no need to shrink:

overall * left side * right side * top * left detail * barrel bottom * magazines

I went through some of the messages in this forum, but alas it's too big to read through completely, and I may have missed something of importance. Of course, I've read all the FAQ's I could find (and I thoroughly regret I can't get Ed Tinker with me to do all the things in the FAQ#17 which I am not sure I can check myself reliably ) Still, there are few questions I'd be very glad if someone of you can answer:

(i) is 1915 generally an advisable year for a collectible LP08? I regret to say I was not able to find the numbers of guns produced in particular years, so alas I have no idea whether this gun is rare or commonplace.

(ii) is the wear adequate? To my eye seems a bit too much (see please esp. the detailed left side picture -- well at least the probability of a re-blue's negligible ).

Actually, I'd be quite grateful if someone experienced would be kind enough to go through the pictures and tell me if there's anything suspicious there; also, I'd be very grateful of extra hints what you would double-check on this gun when buying.

Also, I would appreciate if anyone could guesstimate the value based on the photos.

(iii) was ever a drum magazine number-matched to the gun? Alas the drum magazine is not part of the deal (three standard magazines are); does that decrease the value considerably? Perhaps I blindly missed something obvious, but I haven't found much of the history of those drums; so far I've found just the technical stuff on type 1/2 etc...

(iv) finally, any advice whether there seems to be a way to learn the history of this particular 08 based on its 3160 SN? I've tried Google to no avail, but suppose there might be better sources out there

Thanks a very big lot, and do please forgive if my questions above are dumb,
OC