The "Secret Service Special" was a brand name used by Fred Biffar company of Chicago. They contracted the manufacture of their handguns through several different companies from roughly the 1890's thru the 1920's. According to W.E. Goforth's research the known makers were Iver Johnson, Meriden, Hopkins & Allen and an unidentified Spanish company. They sometimes had special features such as a manual safety. It is usually possible to determine who made a particular sample by comparing it to products from a known maker as there are some obvious mechanical differences.
There is a limited collector market for guns in very fine or near new condition, guns with any amount of wear are, at best, curios and of very little value. Even the nice ones don't bring a lot, I recently sold a nice Meriden made version with real pearl grips for $100 and felt I did well to get that.
Last edited by desi2358; 02-20-2013 at 11:38 PM.
Reason: spelling
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