It is always nice, and sometimes exciting when another Registered Magnum surfaces.
On May 22, 1936 serial number 48374 Registration number 1071 was delivered to Powell & Clement Co., Cincinnati, Ohio. It has a five-inch barrel. The gun was subsequently purchased by insurance executive, William Howard Cox, of Cincinnati. It was shipped with a King red post on a reflector base. It now has a white post. It also now sports custom stocks with Mr. Cox’s initials.
Accompanying the revolver is an exquisite carved Berns-Martin holster.
The gun has been fired, but clearly spent most of the past 75 years in a life of leisure. It is nearly new.
John

great looking gun and story.

some day i'll have one

some day

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George Jamison

Darn fine RM, and the Berns-Martin rig is icing on the cake.
Nice find!

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John

That is one fine looking revolver!

What a super rig and great history!

I love the rig--

Me too... I have a line on one. Just can't get him to price it (that may be a good thing ).

What a cool RM that is with the custom stocks. Back in the day I think men with money bought 'em and put 'em together with top shelf leather.

Thanks for posting, if you have more pics I'd sure like to look.

GF

Great revolver and holster, both are really prime. So I've got a noob question, how do you tell if a gun is an RM?

Thanks for sharing the photos....outstanding gun.

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Regards, Ty

Custom grips...King sight....tooled holster AND belt....like new condition....

It all adds up to an absolutely outstanding combination!

Thanks for sharing.

John:

Beautiful gun and rig. I would love to hear how it made its way down from Ohio to NewMexico.

Thanks for sharing!

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Richard
Engraved S&W fan

Beautiful gun, and the leather is spectacular. Congratulations on the score!

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David Wilson

Mr William Howard Cox was not only well heeled, he knew what he was doing. His gun and leather and grips are first rate, but not overly flashy. I would go so far as to say his equipment was state-of-the-art in every respect. Wonder who made those brilliant grips? WOW.

Bullit Bill, welcome to the forum. The Registered Magnums have a registration stamp on the frame that you can see when the cylinder yoke has been opened, like Reg 1234. This is separate from the gun's serial number, which is part of the regular prewar N-frame serial number sequence. If you search the forum archives for "Registered Magnum," you will find a bunch of posts telling you scads about them. This model is perhaps the model most sought by collectors (though I don't have one yet and personally prefer other models.)

RMs will be found with serial numbers from (roughly) 45700 to 60000 -- but not every one of those will be a registered magnum.

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David Wilson

Sigh!!!

That's beeeyoutiful.

Outstanding!
Just what I'd imagine the practical handgunner to order as state of the art circa 1936.

What a beautiful find! It's nice to see beautiful survivors. Thanks!

David, thanks for the info. Bill

Get yourself over to Lee Jarretts ebay sale, and buy one of those
pairs of pre-WW2 n-frame magna stocks. That will make it almost
original. The stocks on it are much too late.

Otherwise, very nice gun.

Mike Priwer

John,

How you fortunate enough to find something as wonderful as this! I've been looking for a long time now.

"Get yourself over to Lee Jarretts ebay sale, and buy one of those
pairs of pre-WW2 n-frame magna stocks. That will make it almost
original. The stocks on it are much too late."

"It also now sports custom stocks with Mr. Cox’s initials."

I think I'd leave it just the way it was when Mr Cox owned it, even if it isn't correct for 1936.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Love it! .. especially the custom stocks, leather & story to go with them.

Congratulations!

Jerry

Sure is a beauty. . .

John,
You didn't say much about Mr. Cox. He wouldn't be a relative of yours would he?
By the way, That is one fine revolver. Thanks for showing it to us.

Wingmaster

Well, that is just COOL! As it turns out, I have RM #1070. Here's a link to an earlier thread with a couple of not-so-good pictures: Registered Magnum to the Range

Now if someone will post up #1072 or 1069 we'll have a trifecta.

David:

The reason that you "personally prefer other models" is due to the fact that you don't have one yet... In all seriousness, once you get one RM, one will never be enough. I started with one, and a dozen or so later, I'm still in the "just one more" mode.

Moral to the story - "Don't buy one, unless you want to get hooked."

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Richard
Engraved S&W fan

That is beautiful. I think I hate you!

I purchased the gun from the Cox family through one of our members. I would not mind if that individual identified himself, but that is up to him. Mr. Cox was a serious shooter, but he didn't put many rounds through this revolver.
To Mike Priwer: You are certainly correct in your observation that the stocks are more recent, but I prefer to leave them as-is since that is the way Cox configured this fine revolver.
Thanks for all the kind comments about the gun and rig.
John Hopkins

Point taken.

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David Wilson

I love it and think it is a awesome Smith. Congrats. I dont have a Registered Magnum yet, but someday........ I hope mine looks as good as that one! Congrats

I'm not sure everyone noticed the relief hole in the front of the stocks for the butt.I think thats a neat feature.Very nice rm you have there.I'm hoping someday I can aford one.Regards Mike

As regards the custom stocks: They are nice stocks, and indeed are
part of the revolvers history. To me, and my reg mags, these are
special guns. Just like I 'hate' to see one with post-WW2 sights -
and I understand why people did that - I much prefer pre-WW2 magna
stocks on these great revolvers. That is how they were made, and
that is how I think they ought to be preserved. If it were mine, I
would certainly keep those post-WW2 stocks, as part of the package,
but as I indicated, I'd get a pair of pre-WW2 magnas, while they are
being offered. I think they are scarcer than the guns themselves.

I know I'm not making any converts here, but - thats OK !

Regards, Mike Priwer

Mike,
Actually you are. I'll keep on the lookout for a nice set of pre-War Magnas.
Thanks for your input.
John

Sure would like to get that "one!"
That is a beautiful revolver with lots of character and history.

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Pat Henson

That is one very nice RM I like the holster and grips as well. I suffer only having a 27-2 with a 5" barrel its nice but no way as neat as the RM's Thanks for posting the pictures.

It is a Beautiful Rig!!! I disagree with the dating of the grips! I think they might be pre-war customs! If not, surely early post war!! Thats my novice opinion.Please do tell are the intials inlaid in 14k or 18k? Will you clean the floral sterling buckle???

How do we know the grips are post-war?

>Cox was an avid shooter and hunter all of his life. He qualified for the US Olympic Pistol team in 1920, but on the way to Belgium, he was bitten by a spider on his trigger finger!
>Member of the "One Shot" club, meaning he took an antelope with one shot on an annual shoot.
>In 1932 he became President of a Life Insurance Co. for 24 years.
>Golfed with Bobby Jones.
>Helped form the Cincinatti Revolver Club in 1908.
>Their indoor range in Cincinatti is named for him.
>When he graduated with a B.S. in 1907, he had made more money while in college than he spent!!!

I think it safe to say the man knew who made what in the shooting world.
He ordered a Mag, a TOP-of -the-line holster for it, and had grips made to suit him. He changed the red post to a white post that could be ivory.

He was around 50-51 when the gun shipped. He had been Pres for 4 or more years. He was a man of means.
In case you haven't figured it out, I brokered the gun.
That rig is the finest Berns Martin rig I have ever seen. It was humorous to see that the billet was moved out about 3 inches. I guess he gained weight.

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

Lee,
Very nice write up and photographs.
Many thanks,
John

A beautiful gun with a classic American success story to boot. Will you shoot it?

It is fascinating to me to consider the cross section of people that were willing to spend what was big money at the time in order to own the finest revolver available. Clearly, this gun was owned by a man of considerable means and ability who was well up on the social ladder. Yet the gun I own, #1070, consecutive to this one, was owned by a guy who ordered it through a hardware store in Jackson Hole in 1936 and who was basically a cowboy/ranch hand his entire life. He was most certainly never a rich man, yet he was willing to part with what had to be close to a month's pay to get this revolver. The one I started a thread on two days ago, #3035, was ordered by a steamfitter who worked for the railroad. Again, he was not a man of money or fame, and I'm sure the money he spent on his revolver came hard. This cross section of people, from some of the "highest" to the most humble is, at least to me, as interesting as the guns themselves. It's part of what makes collecting them so addictive!

Duplicate of Post 42

Attached Images

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Red Nichols The Holstorian

I've been pointed to this thread after finding an excellent album on the gun and holsters:

Smith & Wesson Forum - handejector's Album: Cox Magnum

A rear view pic of the holster caught my eye:

user110302_pic4890_1310873365.jpg

Because it reveals markings that it has been suggested, by turnerriver, are from the company's Bremerton WA location (pre-war and both Berns and Martin were sailors):

bremerton elmer keith (2).jpg

And Keith's unique set has the same markings plus a strap with the same unique snap 'button': a wreath in bas relief. The following pics are not of Keith's set, though:

bremerton (1).jpg

bremerton snaps.jpg

Keith's article of 1932, which reveals the new holster for the first time but does not include his holster set, states that John Berns did not intend to patent his holster; yet there are the patent numbers painstakingly imprinted in the leather. Keith states a Bremerton WA address for Berns-Martin. The first patent number is to Clark in 1931, the second to Berns in 1935. All this suggests it was made between 1935 and 1945.

The patent numbers are not marked on the company's Calhoun City or Elberton holsters, though they are listed on their brochures with those addresses. It has been speculated that the WA location is prewar and the others are post-war, in part because of Keith mentioning in a 1950 American Rifleman that Berns-Martin has reopened after a several-year closure.

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Red Nichols The Holstorian

Just to add to the thread.... Powell and Clements was up on 6th street in Cincinnati, a couple of blocks east of Vine. It was an upperclass store with great guns. Back about 1970 I worked downtown and often would take my lunch up that way, "dining" at the Red Fox (a double decker sandwich shop). And I'd always stop at the window to view the latest goodies they'd have out on display. My favorite over those years was a Browning 22 auto, grade II. Obviously made in Belgium at that time with great engraving. I can't remember the price, but it was out of reach for a young married guy.

Now in later years the owner used to display at the OGCA show. He's missed the last few shows and I hope nothing is wrong with them. She actually owned the store because he was a city employee and they've been stinkin' PC even back then. It was a fine store in an anti gun city.

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Dick Burg

Can't add anything to what has been posted. Just wanted to say, that may be the best looking rig I've ever seen.

Agreed. It also has a floral pattern I've not seen on any other Berns-Martin, which virtually without exception used the rose flower and leaf pattern we know from the James Bond book cover. I do have a pic of yet another pattern on a B-M that is very different to both of the aforementioned styles, but no pic of the rear to know when/where it was made. And pics of the only known Myres copy of the Berns-Martin, which I suspect was made using a cut-open original including the hard-to-make spring.

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Red Nichols The Holstorian