Reworks, and the changes in how they are regarded

[Kyrie]

Hi Folks!


I donâ??t know how many people caught this in the thread below, but BCC made a very interesting observation, in the form of a question. This was:


â??...I thought that you had an outstanding write up on your VOPO 1936 rework and wonder if you agree with me (please don't feel compelled) that such offical government/military ordered reworks have a "legitimate" place in a collection, this would of course include WWII German reworks, and others....â?�


The answer is, â??Yes sir, I do - but I didnâ??t always.â?�


This answer takes a little history, but not a history of Lugers. Rather itâ??s a history of Luger collecting here in the US. Luger collecting today is so different from Luger collecting forty odd years ago itâ??s hard to know where to begin, and how to explain how collecting (and the collecting market!) has changed.


In retrospect itâ??s hard to believe how little we knew back in the â??50â??s and â??60â??s. Remember that Fred Datigâ??s book â??The Luger Pistolâ?� wasnâ??t first published until 1955, Harry E. Jones â??Luger Variationsâ?� wasnâ??t published until 1959, and Charles Kenyonâ??s â??Lugers at Randomâ?� wouldnâ??t appear until the 1960â??s!


Forty years ago people wanted completely factory original, unaltered, Lugers. Unit marked Great War Lugers were viewed as â??alteredâ?� and of interest to shooters only. East German VoPo reworks were almost unknown and the few examples in the US were viewed as reworked trash. 1920 Commercials were also hard to sell as anything other than shooters.


Iâ??ve seen this change, and I think the change is due to the vast increase in information concerning Luger we have experienced in the last four or five decades. Forty years ago unit markings might as well have been written in Sanskrit or Egyptian hieroglyphics so far as most collectors were concerned. We didnâ??t know what they meant, so they had no value to us. Since then we have had volume after volume published on unit markings and now we *can* read a great many of the unit markings. The result of this is the pistols have come alive - we can trace where they went and the battles at which they were present. Unit markings are no longer a liability on a Luger and generally do not have a detrimental effect on a Lugerâ??s value. In some cases Luger collectors will even pay a premium for Lugers with specific unit markings.


We have seen something similar happen with VoPo Lugers, and this change began when we began to be able to recognize the VoPo markings as unit markings. Today the VoPo Lugers are a recognizable and recognized variation, and a VoPo Luger will generally sell for almost as much as the same variation Luger without VoPo markings. There are even at least a few Luger collectors that specialize in VoPo Lugers!


1920 Commercial Lugers are also now a recognized Luger variation, but they still tend to lag behind other variations in value (unless they are Stoeger marked, marked Safe and Loaded, or something else that sets them apart from the run-of-the-mill a 1920 Commercial). I, personally, think this lag is due to the general lack of detailed information concerning the 1920 Commercials. These pistols are now at the center of a great controversy. On one side of this debate are the more traditional folks who hold the 1920 Commercials were made up from Great War pistols and left over parts during the period of about 1918 to 1923. On the other side are those folks who hold these pistols were not produced until the late 1920â??s (see Jan Stillâ??s wonderful â??Weimar and Early Naziâ?� for more on this complex issue). I think if we can ever get these pistols sorted out as to when, where, why, and how they were made they will increase in both interest and demand (and hence value as well).


All of this is why I answered you question, â??Yes sir, I do - but I didnâ??t always.â?� Things have changed over the years!


Moreover, we have recently seen two distinct groups of Lugers come into the country. One of these groups is comprised of the so-called â??Russian Capture Lugersâ?�. These pieces are coming out of the various CIS and former Warsaw Pact countries, and seem to be composed of distinct sub-groups. A few are original, with no sign of reworking. Most have at least been hot salt blued, and have one or more replaced parts. A few seem to be composed entirely of randomly selected parts (real FrankenLugers).


The other group is composed of East German rework Lugers. There are a few VoPo Lugers mixed in with these, but the vast majority was never East German police pistols and was reworked with something else in mind.


At the moment both groups of Lugers are viewed as little more than shooters. But I think that may change in the ten or twenty years. If we begin to get the story behind the East German reworks (very possible with the Reunification) I think they may well become a newly recognized variation with a brisk collector demand driving their value upward.


The future of the â??Russian Capture Lugersâ?� is, I think, very murky. To become a recognized and sought after variation I believe we are going to need to be able to place them in a historical perspective and that includes when, where, why and for whom they were reworked. If that â??when, where, why, for whomâ?� turns out to be â??the 1990â??s, the importers warehouses, for hard currency, and US collectorsâ?� then itâ??s unlikely they will ever be desirable as anything other than shooters.


But time will tell. And who knows? I may yet live long enough to see what happens


Best regards,


Kyrie