Need assistance with very first Luger purchase

[alanint]

Well, he might be playing the "Tax Extempt" game with his museum, but this expert knows nothing about the dynamics of how weapons were surrendered at the end of WW2.

Yes, weapons surrendered in bulk may have been dumped into piles with their magazines removed but anything a GI personally captured and declared went home in exactly the condition he found it in. If some rear area officer or policeman walked up to that GI in a small hamlet and turned over his gun, chances were good that it was "as issued". That means pistol, holster and two matching mags in many cases. That's why what we refer to as "Complete Rigs" are a reality, albeit rare. Do you think any GI who captured a prize would turn it over to be dumped into a pile with its magazines in another? Many, many pistols came home with NO declaration to the military authorities, not just at the end of the war but for years afterwards as the US occupied Germany and had the time and inclination to seek out and discover more souvenirs to send home.

I would also appreciate a more polite approach to fellow members, in particular Ron Wood, who has forgotten more Luger lore than I will ever know and who gives freely of his time and expertise in support of all the members of this site. You are getting information and valuations here for free that an established firm would charge you hundreds of dollars for. Meeting our standards of decorum is really not that much of a hardship.