This is a .32 Safety Hammerless, 3rd Model. The 211xxx serial number puts it almost perfectly in the middle of the production of this model, which spanned from 1909 to 1937. I concur with the 1915-1916 shipping date estimate, but it's worth noting that guns did not always ship in order of serial number, so that estimate could be off by a few years. And as has already been explained, this is a "top break" gun.

The grip panels were often broken when people would try to pry them off. That said, this is a pretty standard variant of a commonly found model, so the value was never all that high to begin with (maybe two hundred dollars, give or take, in today's market).

Other than the broken grip panel, this gun appears to be unmolested; please encourage your neighbor to keep it that way, and to resist the urge to alter its appearance. It's nice to see survivors like this.

Your neighbor probably doesn't know this ... but when the action is open (as it is in the first and second shots), the cylinder can be removed by holding the latch up (which has a little retaining lip on it) and unscrewing the cylinder from the quill. Make sure the latch doesn't drag on the surface of the cylinder; it'll leave a telltale scrape line that makes collectors cringe.

Mike