Hi Draz
thanks for your opinion, and in most respects I agree...ut again we're talking two different things...I would agree that original wood will look worn at times in various ways....but there is also a huge difference, between wood that has been sanded or cleaned (HUGE difference) and wood from a war horse....
also a big difference between a gun with mint wood, and something like the subject of this auction...NO way NO how....it is bad to confuse the two or muddy the water....it is not a good thing for newcomers, not a good thing for someone who pulls their grandpaps rifle out of an attic, sees that it is dirty and rough, and goes looking for advice, and then sees posts especially on a forum about G43 and K43s, saying that mint wood looks always blonde and always smooth, or that pics of a cleaned gun or sanded gun is the way it should look to be mint...now that is sad very sad IMO for two reasons, one the info is bad, and two now that person will potentially ruin the stock on grandpaps gun, thus ruining value and history
so I still hold out hope that all you are saying is that some guns will look worn, yes I agree! but dont ever call those guns mint, or near mint, and dont ever tell me that a gun with worn waffenamts, shadow of a serial number is original and correct...
I encourage you to post your gun, didnt you buy one from me? post them all and you can get some opinions from long time collectors who cherish originality
feel free to visit my fun post I started pretty much because of this auction and some bad info on the GK forum to be quite honest...take the test see how you do?
Hey I learned the hard way, and learned it through time and effort, seeing the bad from a collector who LOVED to clean his rifles stocks, I wont be shy about the effort I gave and still give, I upgraded, and upgraded and learned and as I found more and more untouched out of the attic examples it became quite obvious to me what cleaned and sanded wood looks like, vs worn wood, vs untouched wood, vs truly minty peices...
and in regards to minty pieces, I dont think there is anyone in the whole world who collects anything : stamps, beanie babies, whatever, that doesnt strive to, or at least admires minty examples, after all they are the supposed pinnacle of that area of collecting? especially value wise..... the information on what is original, what is untouched cannot be muddied or we will be giving bad info and worse potentially guiding someone to ruin a gun as so many already have been
now why do you think many GK43s and 98ks have suffered the fate of being sanded and cleaned??? I know why, precisely because many collectors over the years want to have a minty example and what does a minty example look like? deep proofs (even with a smooth early stock with polished finish, AND lightly struck waffenamts it is obvious that wood has not been cleaned or sanded IVE got examples and Ill get to them and post pics in my wood threads, when I say deep it can be relative youre correct), deep serial numbers, crisp edges, lack of dirt and black residue from cleaning in low spots and pores etc etc ...so they took attic fresh guns and cleaned them, they took war horses and sanded them blonde just like this duv44 IMO...and of course you had GIs who wanted fancy shiny hunting guns they couldnt afford, and that is why they brought these guns back to tinker, and to get that expensive "looking" hunting rifle, so they sanded them smooth, varnished them, or BLOd them as was the thing to do
the other bad thing about confusion, is that you have idiots with more money than experience or knowledge with bad advice too, spending enormous amounts of money on a bad gun, which will lead others to say "Hey grandpapas rifle is worth a million dollars, but looks at it, it looks honey brown, and rough, hmmmm maybe Ill sand it down and sell it on gunbroker!" but I guess I shouldnt complain too much, it makes my truly nice guns worth more too ???!!!???
Robert (Ladora) I hope you read this, please post some pics of the wood on the G43 I pulled out a woodpile you bought, the stock....BiO I know youve got a war horse bcd G43, bust out the pics, I need help, I think Im slowly saving Drazil!! I need examples of some photos!
nobody ever said there is one set standard rifle stock finish either, ??? please point me to where that was said? there is no way around original being original and modified being what it is...of course each gun will be a case by case basis, with some slightly differening opinons, but a stock with round edges, shadows of waffenamts, and shadows of serial numbers, or dark black flat looking serial numbers is most liekly modified...even if through use and carry!