With the large logo on the sideplate, the OP's gun cannot have been made before 1937. That means the serial number would have to include the V prefix of a wartime Victory revolver; that V should be visible on the butt, rear face of the cylinder and flat underside of the barrel. V535066 would have shipped in 1944.
I have never seen a .38 Special Victory with a chopped barrel, but I suppose they could exist. The usual chop jobs, as indicated above, were British Service Revolvers chambered originally for .38 S&W (or .38/200, in the British classification).
The British guns that got this treatment are usually covered in proof marks that I don't see on this revolver. Perhaps they have all been polished off. It looks as though all barrel markings have been polished off as well. Ignoring the out-of-protocol plated hammer and trigger, the frame finish does not look half bad. The sideplate was polished while in position, thus avoiding the horrible frame/sideplate gully you get when the parts are polished separately and the edges round over.
If you can shoot .38 special without damaging or deforming the brass, you may have a gun that was given a proper replacement cylinder, or a cylinder that was sleeved for .38 Special rather than just bored deeper. (But I don't see evidence of sleeving in that one photo that shows the face of the cylinder.)
There is a fourth sideplate screw under the right side stock, so this would be considered a five-screw revolver.
The crane detente and spring were gone as revolver features by the 1940s, so you don't run the risk of losing them when you take the crane/cylinder assembly off the frame. Just remove the front sideplate screw (or loosen it with a turn or two of removing it) and pull the opened crane straight forward. It will slide right out.
I agree that market value is probably not over $200 in light of its modifications.
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David Wilson
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