Thank you sir! These are all the photos I have at this time. Excuse my ignorance but what is a going rate for a all matching example (from what I can tell)? I keep seeing anywhere from $500 to $2k.
It depends on the sellers knowledge and understanding of the current market. If it’s a guy that has been living under a rock with no Internet, $500. If it is a hard-core collector probably close to $1.5-2k
That would be an amazing deal. Good luck!
Nice! I'm excited to see this one
Excellent. I always recommend anyone remove it; it just looks bad... especially on Gew98s with white receivers. It serves no purpose anymore now that books are in color. Fakers often used it to cover their tracks too (makes it harder to tell if markings/finish are original, especially on lugers.)
It also makes me nervous from a preservation standpoint. The ones where it was filled in with wax or enamel aren't as big an issue, but the chalk always seemed a major rust risk for me.
Yeah I've always questioned whether or not the folks that use paint or chalk especially think about any potential for damaging finish as the paint ages. I'm not a chemist by any stretch, but depending on the paint I would imagine there is some risk. I just remove it on sight-- a stiff brass brush is usually all that's needed
The really stuck on stuff often responds well to rubbing it with penetrating oil. Not even really soaking it, just putting a bunch on a finger and rubbing it on the markings and leaving them wet for a day. If a little bit is able to work its way under an edge that can loosen it enough for the brush to do its job.
