Forty one years ago I was a young lawyer and took what I could get. Sometimes guns. I stopped doing criminal defense once I started having children, and I sold most of the guns. One I kept is this very same break top. Mine has a serial number 42512. I remember the guy's name was 'Danny' and I got him off of some misdemeanor charge. He assured me this was one of the first S&W's ever made. I didn;t believe him then and I don;t now. However, I would like to sell it. It is in very clean condition and I never fired it. It is chromed or high polished, which seems odd given its age. The serial number 42512 is on the butt and twice on the interior.

Fortunately I went on to have a very profitable career once I stopped taking guns as fees. It turns out money is the coin of the realm, not guns. However, many of the guns sold 30 years later had very high value (the junk ones I sold to the local gun shop right away). I still have a few that are truly great. Most petty criminals don't buy very good stuff I observed. But a police officer I represented had some really fine stuff and many German guns were in old guys collections from WW II. All sold.

So what is this break top worth, if anything?