Found a 1914 Erfurt Luger For Sale . . .

[kevin07]

Well, Iâ??m a complete newbie to Lugers, but I stumbled upon this piece for sale, and need to ask the classic question, â??whatâ??s it worth?â?� It is a 1914 Erfurt Artillery Luger, serial # is 1300, and all the parts appear to be matching, except for the magazine (and the magazine does have the wooden WWI base). I had virtually no knowledge on Lugers prior to spotting this gun, but I have done some research over the last couple days, and from what Iâ??ve read it appears to be one of the rarer models of lugers made.

However, one of my biggest concerns is the perfect condition of the gun. Iâ??m afraid that it may have been reblued/refinished, or at the very least heavily buffed. Also, the trigger, takedown lever, mag release, and safety appear to be nickel/chrome, and in absolutely perfect shape (to perfect for a 90-year old gun I would think). Should they be nickle? And how do you tell if a gun has been reblued?


This picture (despite the terrible quality) shows the bright chrome color of the trigger, mag release, etc.

Also, the gun has the removable stock. I looked, but didnâ??t see a serial number on the stock (of course, I had no idea where to look). How can you tell a repo from an original?






Of course, this leads to the ultimate question, whatâ??s it worth?

Sorry for the million questions, and thanks in advance for any help/advice.

[Edward Tinker]

Yes, it appears to be reblued to me and the trigger, etc was strawed, not ever nickled etc.

It would be a shooter and worth around $900-$1100


Ed

[kevin07]

Thanks, that's to bad about the refinishing, but I kind of figured it was in too good of shape to be original finish.

[Ron Smith]

Hi Kevin,

It's been pretty heavily buffed and reblued. Pretty sad to see a nice one so abused.

[Ron Wood]

Somebody went crazy with the buffing wheel. It appears to have been heavily pitted so whoever owned it tried to make it pretty. Not everyone is a collector, so there has always been, and continues to be, a desire on the part of the uninitated to "improve" the appearance of their guns. Not necessarily a condemnation since they probably had no knowledge of the significance of the piece or guidance about preserving its history. To add to this Luger's woes, the stock is a reproduction.

[DavidJayUden]

K:
I, on the other hand, love to shoot the Artillery models, so I suggest that you pay a shooter price of around a grand and go for it. You can have the levers stipped of plating and straw them to orig. yourself, and you could even get the finish a bit better with a little time and a few bucks. A repop. holster rig and you'll be the fat cat at a shooting range full of Glocks.
My $ .02
DJU

[George Anderson]

I would say that the stock is a reproduction. The pistol has been so abused that I would not pay more than $300 for it. At that I would hope to come out in the "parts" and grips end.

[DavidJayUden]

Ron:
I agree that in general it has been over buffed prior to hot bluing, however with the exception of the frame around the safety I'm not seeing signs that it was badly pitted. I'm not even seeing the markings and edges too terribly rounded away. What am I missing?
DJU

[jamese]

even $900 t0 $1000 is a little high I think

I would offer the guy $700

Jim

[kevin07]

Thanks for all the info. I am a complete newbie on Lugers, but got pretty excited when I found out it was a fairly rare, all matching 1914 Erfurt. Glad I asked here before placing a bid on it, as this gun is actually up for online auction in an estate sale. Here's the link if anyone's interested.

Thanks again,
Kevin