A Volcanic Repeater, as that's what started the whole thing off.

Just kidding.

More realistically, I think I would shy away from a specific model with a particular barrel length. There are three model classes that I would nominate.

The New Century, or triple lock. The gun from which ALL N-frames descend, and fascinating because of its innovative engineering and cost-be-damned approach to producing a fine revolver.

The .38 Military & Police beginning with the Model of 1902 and continuing through all its descendants and spin-offs to the present. (The Model of 1899 is atypical and to my mind represents a prototype that made it to production before the design was fully baked.) I am in complete agreement with everyone who has nominated this 20th-century best seller in prior posts.

Finally, the K-frame Masterpiece models -- K-22, K-32 and K-38. I would stretch this category to include the K-22 Outdoorsman in the 1930s, as that was clearly heading toward the Masterpiece line-up of the first postwar decades.

I have tried to persuade myself that there is a small-frame "classic" S&W, but I just can't make the jump. I know that models like the Chiefs Special and Centennial are admired by many, and everybody knows I love prewar Kit Guns, but they feel to me like niche products that were designed to address a specific marketing opportunity. If I hear someone say "Smith & Wesson," I never think first of a J-frame model or an I-frame predecessor, just as I never think first of zebras when I hear hoofbeats.

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David Wilson