A friend gave me a S & W 32 cal. Hand Ejector in the box as a birthday gift. It's a nickel 4 1/4 in, with matching serial numbers of #5144XX. He told me the gun belonged to his father and has never been fired. My friend is 82 years old. The box reads "Container Patented December 28, 1920". The trigger and hammer looks to be stainless and not nickel like the rest of the gun. Any idea how much it is worth?

Welcome to the forum.

That gun would have shipped around 1929-1930. The box patent is for the hinge and beveled corner design that let the gun be displayed in a flipped-open box on the shelf. S&W never put a blue or nickel finish on hammers and triggers regardless of the finish on the rest of the gun. These parts were case hardened, and if you look closely you may see faint traces of blueish or brownish swirls on the parts. Colors can fade though, and older moving parts can look just gray or flat -- "stainless," even.

Depending on box condition and whether the nickel finish has any defects or micro-scratches on it, that is potentially worth as much as $750 or so. I know it was represented to you as unfired, but if by chance it looks that good because it was refinished at some point in its history, that would cut its collector value quite a bit. But even if valued only as a shiny shooter, it would still be worth $300-400, maybe a little more to someone who wasn't concerned about a refinish.

Pictures of both the box label and the gun would help us evaluate it. If the box is labeled .32 Hand Ejector, the gun should be a round butt model; if the gun has square butt stocks that reach below the grip frame, it would be called a .32 Regulation Police.

There are lots of fans of old .32 S&Ws on this forum. I hope you can get a picture or two up for us to look at.

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David Wilson

Thanks, David Wilson. You gave me a lot of good information. I will provide some pics after I figure out how to do it on this website. Paul

David Wilson, as promised am attaching 6 pictures of the .32 cal Hand Ejector nickel plated 4 1/4. Hope you can see that it is in very good condition. A friend who is an avid shooter and collector told me last night that the plating deserves a 95/100 and that it looked like it had been fired but not much and probably long ago. Thanks again.

Attached Images

	32 cal sw 1.jpg (16.1 KB, 75 views)
	32 cal sw 2.jpg (17.7 KB, 66 views)
	32 cal sw 4.jpg (17.1 KB, 74 views)
	32 cal sw 6.jpg (15.5 KB, 62 views)
	32 cal sw 5.jpg (16.4 KB, 56 views)

Nice specimen. I bet most dealers in classic S&Ws would probably ask around $650-700 for that package, or expect it to bring nearly that much at auction. It's a very nice birthday gift, and you owe your friend a good thank-you dinner or two.

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David Wilson

All I can say is WOW!! That is probably the nicest 32 HE of that vintage in existence today. Your friend really did a nice thing for you when he gifted it to you. From a quick look at the photos, the finish is the proper color case hardening and looks to be as nice as the rest of the gun. My only problem if it were mine would be the overwhelming desire to go out and shoot it. If you determine that it has been shot at all, an occasional trip to the range will not detract from its value... any modern rounds loaded (factory loads or equivalent) for the S&W Long would be safe for it. Of course if it really does prove to be unfired, I'd have to respect that and not shoot it either... I would be frustrated, though! Congratulations.

Froggie

David, thank you so much for your quick reply. A dinner for sure is in the making!!! paul