To my not-so-trained-eye, the finish on the OP gun looks original. That is a huge plus, value-wise.
From LamarW:
"The S&W plant for the manufacture of the Model of 1917 Military revolvers was taken over by the US Government during WWI. After the war it was returned to S&W and there were negotiations of the materials and completed parts in stock. Those material and parts were used to produce many of the Commercial Version revolvers. The oldest of my two even has some components with Govt. proof marks."
I think to say that the above events created some animosity between the US Government and S&W would be putting it mildly. I don't remember all the particulars, but the US was very heavy-handed about this and forced S&W to take back a lot of spare parts / partially finished guns. IIRC, S&W had to eat the cost. As late as 1946, S&W still had a boat-load of these spares sitting around, enough to build 12,000 to sell to Brazil.
I have a couple of these '46 Brazilians which I consider to be the equivalent of the Commercial Variations. Well, I can think what I want, right?
