History of 1942 byf?

[Lugerdoc]

Ken, The checkered black plastic grips that came on your pistol might be the original "Black Widow" grips of the period and desirable to collectors or they could be Russian replacements. I'd certainly check with luger collectors in your area or post a close up photo here of both the inside & outsides of the grips for our opinions. If your 42BYF is in the N or M suffix serial number range, it was one of the last batch made a Mauser during WW2, as they switched over to P38 production. Most of this last batch, were traded to Portugal & Bulgaria for other needed war materials. TH