I am trying to get a value on my registered 1939 357 mag. The serial number is 5235. sold to a police chief in nov of 39. it is now nickol plated and looks like new almost.

Start a new topic in the S&W Hand Ejectors: 1896 to 1961 forum, perhaps entitled "What Is My Registered Magnum Worth?" Include the information above, and include decent photos. Hint: you will not get much in the way of answers without photos. Once you have an idea of what it is worth, then you may be ready to post an ad in the Guns for Sale or Trade forum.

Good luck!

Welcome to the Forum. Your Registered Magnum is worth what someone will pay you for it. A guide might be that usually a refinished gun will bring only about 1/2 of what the same gun can bring with original finish. ( Also, the serial number of your gun is the number on the butt. 5235 is not the serial number. it is the registered number. ) Ed.

That registration number identifies the gun as one of 213 sold to the Kansas City Police Department. The serial number is likely to be within a hundred of 59800, but doesn't have to be because of the way S&W managed their vault contents.

Photos are needed to help with the value. As far as refinishing goes, there is the higher refinishing and the lower refinishing. A gun that went back to S&W to be refinished does not lose as much of its value as one that gets a fresh plate job from Bubba's Aluminum Siding and Gun Dip, Inc. S&W returns usually have a five-point star next to the serial number on the butt and a date code on the left side of the grip frame under the stocks -- something like 11.46 for November 1946, for example. Also, hammer and trigger should never be plated in a renickel job. Factory finishing protocol dictated that hammers and triggers would always be color case hardened. Attentive non-factory refinishing services observed that policy.

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David Wilson

My understanding is that S&W did not issue factory registration certificates for such guns sold to police agencies, only for .357s sold to private purchasers.

That's my understanding too. The KCPD guns had registration numbers stamped on them, but did not come with the feel-good paperwork that went to individuals.

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David Wilson