Originality ethics (long)

Egad! This discussion for some reason reminds me of the time I took my Illinois-raised 7-year old son to visit a museum in Columbia, South Carolina. He saw the display of butternut Confederate garments and yelled excitedly at the top of his lungs, "Look Dad, here are the uniforms of the bad guys!" The room fell silent and dozens of people were carefully staring away from us in stony approbation. I am getting the same vibes now after bringing up the subject of orginality of Lugers. My intention certainly was not to pick at any wounds which apparently have formed on this topic on this forum, and I apologize if I have done so.


In any event, my question is answered. There apparently are no hard and fast rules on originality. However, as long as the seller is as candid as possible about the weapon, the buyer can make his own decision about whether or not the gun is original enough for his needs.


Incidentally, I feel that BCC makes an excellent point with his Lincoln assassination weapon parable. For example, I think a rusty Luger picked up after the Battle of Stalingrad with an inscription scratched on the grips in German which says "Marshal Zhukov stinks" probably would be a more interesting and worthwhile find than a perfectly preserved NIB (which is not to say that I would turn my nose up at a NIB--far from it).


Finally, I did not intend to denigrate any kind of Luger. I like all Lugers...new ones, old ones, rusty ones, pristine ones, .45 caliber ones, stainless steel ones, etc. Most I cannot afford, and some I like better than others, but all Lugers are worthy, in my opinion, of being included in this forum.