Welcome to the forum Belmon
It is a first model 32 Safety Hammerless revolver also called a New Departure. It probably shipped from the S&W facttory in 1889 or 1890. Without a factory letter of authentication it is very hard to pin down any closer than that. They were aften shipped out of numerical sequence during those first few early years of production. The factory letters cost $50 and will tell when it was shipped, to whom it was shipped, the type of grips and barrel length and any special order features. Almost all of the early Safety Hammerless revolvers were shipped to either the MW Robinson Co or Schuler Hartley & Graham, two large NY distributers. Usually not much information is gleaned that way.
It has been renickled (not chrome) at some point in the past which reduces it's collector value considerably. The grips are hard rubber or sometimes called gutta percha. The serial number should be on the back of the cylindar, on the back of the right grip, on the bottom of the barrel latch, and between the ears of the latch on the barrel. Those last numbers can be very hard to see. Be very carful if you take the grips off as they tend to be quite brittle. Don't ever pry them from the bottom as that is the most common cause of broken chipped grips. What I was taught to do many years ago is to loosen the grip screw part way and then push on the screw with the screw driver being very careful not to lett the screw driver slip. Your gun is an antique as it was manufactured pre 1898 and therefore it is exempt from the federal firearms laws.
Mark
__________________
Mark Connot
|
Linear Mode
