unbelievable Find!!!

[lugerholsterrepair]

Amazing Photo's posted below courtesy of the computer savvy Ed Tinker..Thanks ED!

Gentlemen, Here is a story that will amaze you...It did me! It will bring hope to all Luger nuts looking for hard to find parts.
A year or more ago I was cruising a site known to have Luger stuff. A fellow comes on with an ad for a 1937 Krieghoff Luger pistol. Of course I am interested even though the pistol is in relatively poor shape. Dented and pitted but not too bad, 75-80% bluing. Rough but hey, I want a Krieg. Thing is..it’s missing the sideplate. . OK, I buy it anyway, get it, open er up and it’s ALL matching. Not one part is un numbered or mismatched. A fascinating piece actually....Well, I think, I would love to find a Krieghoff sideplate to put on this just to sort of complete it. I gotta say... how often have you ever seen a loose Krieghoff sideplate?
I saw one for sale a year later...I’m on the web and it pops up! I immediately Email the seller, I’ll take it! He Emails back, a fellow just bought it a little while ago. I am going ape! I have spent how many thousands of hours on the internet looking for stuff like this and it’ sells to someone else! I beg the seller to sell it to me but he refuses. I finally wise up and ask the guy to tell me the name of the buyer. He does. I write the buyer and ask him about the sideplate, he says he bought it for a G date that was missing one. Thank God he didn’t need it for a Krieghoff! I offer to buy the plate for my Krieg...explain that I have a pistol it could better fit. Nothing...I get curious. I take a good look at the plate and it has 01 for a serial # on the back plate flange as well as the Eagle 2 on the lever & plate. I call our resident Krieghoff expert, Tom Armstrong and discuss Krieghoff serials. He says the # is just where it’s supposed to be. I dig thru my safe and find my Krieghoff. The serial number of said pistol is 7801. This can’t be! I take a look at the front of the plate...Looks right for condition....Could it be? The buyer finally gets back to me..he will trade the Krieg plate for another and an undisclosed, quite reasonable sum. I am overjoyed! Ed Tinker is kind enough to accomodate me with a suitable sideplate and he immediately sends it to buyer. I send $$. Krieghoff sideplate shows up this morning. This IS the missing sideplate from the pistol I bought over a year ago! It fit right on, the blue, patina and a line of pitting all match. The pistol cocks and fires perfectly! Truely an astounding set of circumstances brought these two back together.The original seller told me he bought this sideplate at a local swapmeet and it was in a box with some K98 rifle parts. I have been looking for matching mags for 15 years and have never found anything close. This knocked me for a loop! I guess all the time I spend looking for gun stuff on the internet wasn’t wasted.....I will take some photo's tomorrow...

Jerry Burney