I am not trying to hijack the thread but since we are talking about values this is the information I got on the 1917.

"I bought it from a gunshop who had purchased an estate sale of guns. Gun was in one family its entire life, issued to a young cavalry officer in the 20's. He preferred a 1911 so kept the gun in cosmoline for most of its life. Son got it years ago and did nothing with it. Gunshop cleaned it of cosmoline and found the gun in near perfect condition.

Now on the 1937
It is a Model 1937 Brazilian contract S&W in 45 ACP. It is a non-import piece. I'll explain: the Brazilian contract was for 25,000 units (same configuration as the 1917 you bought). All 25K have the Brazilian State crest on the right side of the receiver opposite the S&W crest on the left. 14000 were imported into Brazil and stamped with import marks. 11000 were not imported and don't have Brazilian import marks. This gun has no import marks. The condition of this gun is close to the one you bought, about 97%. It has a small scratch on the barrel but otherwise is in superb condition. It was not used much and mechanically it's perfect. The only down side - the grips are not original. The gun's serial number is 2080XX (and all numbers match) which makes it one of the original contract guns and not ones assembled later using WWI parts. Those are easy to spot due to the low serial numbers.

With all the information and photos it was easy to make the decision to buy.