Very Bad News

[Navy]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Originally posted by Lugerdoc:
<strong>Tom A. & John S, I couldn't help but notice the fireblued finish of the toggle lock part attached to the frame of the 04 Navy. This is the same finish that I had applied to my repros of this part, to distinguish them from the originals with a rust blued finish. Is it possisble that this part of your luger is a replacement or is it just the lighting on your photo. TH</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">All,
The photos were taken by forum member and good friend Albert Beliard when this pistol was in the collection of it's previous owner, a very well known and highly respected collector. The fire blue is a result of the photography only (I just pulled it off the shelf to do a double check,)
FWIW, I had been after an '04 for about 15 years and this one in particular, for about 10 years before I was in a position to move on it. In the process, I did a lot of looking, talking, listening and reading. In the process, I determined that during the early 1970's, there was a guy who was making '04's. He did such a beautiful job that at least one of his pieces was in Jan's book, which Jan states in several places. I have acquired through an anonymous benefactor, several pictures of these bogus '04's while being manufactured, including the SN, "smoke" paterns for toggle checkering, etc, etc. I even have the names of the individuals (one now deceased) for whom these pieces were made.
As I have often said, if you are going to play with the big boys, you have to do your homework, I did and was 100% confident that I could trust my judgment when I made that five figure purchase that cost more than the first house I owned.

Tom A.