I have an earlier post looking for information on a K-38 5 screw converted to a single shot 22.
It is very well made but I can not find out if it was made in s&w shop or by some very talented gun smith.
Does anyone have an opinion on the value of something like this?
If you look at my other post there is a better description and pictures.

Thanks Bob

It's hard to put a value on a one of a kind. It would cost well over a thousand to duplicate that gun, but projects like this usually sell for less than they cost. A Smith purist wouldn't touch it, but as a collector of both Smiths and single shot pistols, I like it. To me, the value would be slightly more than an unaltered K-38.

Bob

The other thread raised the possibility of the work being done at the factory. I find that hard to believe but, if true and documented, puts the price in a totally different (high four figures?) range.

Bob

On the other hand------assuming this gun is one of a kind, and I'm assuming it is; how high is high? I recently acquired what was born as a 2nd Model Single Shot which has been totally transformed into what I will call a European type "free pistol" of the time (1912) by a machinist employed at the time by the Naval Torpedo Station in Newport, RI. I paid $6500. I didn't do it without batting an eye, but I did it. I wanted it. That was the price.

This gun (K frame SS) is easily worth the same-----with similar provenance. Lacking such provenance, I would pay perhaps half to two thirds the price of the 2nd Model-------without batting an eye! You only need one prospective buyer. If you get lucky and have two or three, these are the things really wild auctions are made of.(!!!)

Ralph Tremaine

There's no market value for a one-of-a-kind and only one way to determine a value, which is simply the most someone would pay for it. That would be to list it in an auction like Gunbroker with a very high reserve, higher than what it could possibly sell for. The highest bid received would be the value, at least to that bidder.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

I'd vote with several others, the value would most probably be a little more than the unaltered revolver. It's an oddity, and no way done in the factory, but was by a really talented gunsmith. As Hondo44 says, the only way to establish value is to auction it off and the high bid is the value.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244