The USUAL S/N RANGE FOR NICKEL Baby Js is the 36,XXX-37,XXX range.
37744 ….shipped Oct '53, is also nickel. No data on the latch style. Yours probably shipped within the preceding month.

38217……is the earliest in my data base with a 2nd style flat latch like yours and is a blue gun. So my supposition is that your gun is on the cusp of the change, and a new lowest # with the 2nd style in my database.

I wonder if there's a trend that nickel guns have 2nd style flat latches in a lower serial # range than blue guns, but I'll need more data to confirm that.

__________________
Jim
S&WCA #819