Originally posted by opoefc:

"All 1st models are military contract guns, there are no civilian 1st models, ..."

According to Roy Jinks' books, there were 3,035 First Models made, 35 of them for civilian market.

Of the Second Model Schofields made 649 were offered for sale to civilians, out of 5,934 made. This according to Jinks' book "HISTORY OF SMITH & WESSON."

It is not unusual to encounter Schofileds with the "U.S." markings on the butt removed, thus prompting the finder to think he has found one of these civilian market guns. The fact usually is that someone got worried about the U.S. markings and removed them. Mine has them gone but my Jinks letter says it was sold to the U.S. government.

Buff, I guess I didn't make myself clear when I said there were no civilian 1st model Schofields. What I meant was that there are no U.S. military purchased Schofields that are civilian revolvers. Granted , some 1st model Schofields have had the US stamp obliterated or removed, however I've never seen nor heard of one that also had all the little inspector marks removed, so it's easy to tell whether you are looking at a US issed gun vs. a civilian gun. People that removed the US stamp in the years gone by weren't knowledgable enough to understand they also needed to remove all inspector stamps if they were trying to fool someone into thinking the gun was a civilian model. I know of one instance where a 1st model civilian gun had a fake US stamp added to it, as the faker didn't realize that his civilian gun was a lot more valuable as a civilian than a martial gun! Ed.

opoefc:

Serves the sneaky bastage right!

This deal has fizzled out. The seller now is demanding a foolish price, and I'm not going to pursue it. Thanks to everyone who responded - your information was very helpful.