Dating the boxes?
This is my final input on the boxes and probably the hardest subject is actually dating the "early" boxes? This information is very basic and not by any means complete. In order to have a high rate of accuracy one would have to inspect no less than 200 boxes of each type. I've only looked at a total of 72 boxes
so far of all types so this is very basic reference material. I will continue the study and document boxes found and post more information if I find a significant change.
The earliest boxes seem to be the Green boxes found for the early 44's, 38 Baby Russian, and the 1 1/2 cf 32's prior to 1880. There might be an even earlier box for the 44 American. Also, the SA 38's seem to have maintained this Green box theme throughout production where as the 32's definitely did not. Which only feeds into the Distributor source theory.
Some of the early 44 Americans can be found in a light beige color box but I was not able to find one for this study. Also the maroon or burgundy colored box for the 1 1/2 I have no idea where that box fits into the mix since I have not seen one with a label. It might even be the earliest box? in fact I documented no less than 5 different box types for the 1 1/2 cf. This is exactly what I am really saying about these early boxes. There are so many of them in just the 1 1/2cf model cf during a 12 year period that its very difficult to believe that the Distributor was not involved with the making of at least some of these boxes!
The SA 32cf's seem to also reveal the change from the early label to the most common orange label found on all caliber boxes since their introduction actually pre-dates 1880. However, I did also confirm 6 different orange labels so I have no idea what the entire sequence is or if there actually is a sequence. Or if we are actually mixing in various Distributor made boxes? I did with high probability confirm the earliest orange label with the latest Orange label having the late 1890's to 1900 type instruction/box improvement.
I did not perform a study of the rimfires so they are not included and my information on the 44's is about zero since those boxes are extremely rare and very expensive when found.
The latest box and label is the black and white label and new instructions that date to about the turn of the century and beyond. What is very interesting is that this box design remains constant for many years there after. No variations of same. That should tell us something. I'm also convinced that this later type box is clearly a factory box.
All that I have studied and the information compiled point in the direction that the early boxes prior to 1900 are at the very least often Distributor made boxes. To what extent is unknown but there are a significant variety of boxes found prior to 1900. After 1900 the factory box types stay the same for many years for all calibers and variations of revolvers that I documented. This includes the Perfection model, M&P's, lady Smith's, early hand ejectors. This is what I personally would expect from a factory shipped box. Simple pattern with very clear transitions when they occurred. Those patterns are very clear post 1900!!
Murph
Last edited by BMur; 10-02-2020 at 01:35 PM.
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