couple years back I picked up a model 10 4" (can't recall the dash but it is a thin barrel d serial range gun)
I bet it is an old cop gun- much finish wear on the grip straps and lots of grip dings but the areas that would normally be covered by a holster were in much better shape and looked to be shot little.
I have an interest in police issue guns- really like the pd marked ones- what are the chances that it would letter to a police agency?
I am imagining not much since in my area most large police agencies in the pre- autoloader era required officers to buy their own guns.
Do you guys think it is worth the 50 bucks for the letter or not?
In my neck of the woods these 4 inch smith 38's -mod 10,15 etc. are very common and inexpensive. The one I refer to above was bought a few years ago and was under 200 bucks.
When the shop owner sold it to me he said if people wanted them he'd sell model 10's all day long for $175.

Most of these guns were sent to distributors, even the police guns. I think I would save the $50.

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John. SWCA #1586

I'm inclined to think that only pre-model marked guns,guns with special features or engraving,are worth lettering.

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Kinda' depends. I have two ex-LEO guns that indicates they were sent to the respective police departments. That has interest for me. BUT I have an early 38/44 that I lettered and the letter indicated that it was sent to a large Los Angeles, CA hardware store in the mid-'30s. So far, kinda' died there. So for me the info about the ex-LEO guns was worth it but not the info on the 38/44. Depends!

It was worthwhile for me. I thought an old M&P I purchased was built in 1928, per the SCS&W and the serial number. Mr Jinks & Co informed me that it was produced during January 1925 and shipped early in February to a huge retailer at Duluth, Minnesota for immediate resale to the Duluth PD! That explained the "D.P.D" stamp on the backstrap.

I had hoped that the markings would place it as Dayton PD issue, my current residence but Duluth was OK as I had lived there for two years, courtesy of the ChAir Force.

More important, I learned that I needed to be gentle with my handloads, as heat treatment of cylinders was significantly improved around about 1927.

I consider the $50 well-spent in this case.

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Jaeger