Last night, I was on a gun auction site (not GB) and saw this one . The in store sticker price wa $399. However, the auction price was $225 or best offer. Just for grins, I threw them a low ball offer of $175 and they took it. No haggling!





Would serial # 610536 be mid '20s?



Best,
Charles

Closer to Mid 1930s. Nice catch at that price.

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ANTIQUESMITHS
LM1300 SWHF425

Those look like scarce or "Rare" large medallion service stocks as well. If they are .50" inch also N-frame size then they were only used for a short period...1930-1931??? Need to search the forum.

Charles, nice score on that one! Im always impressed with the wealth of knowledge on here and that I keep learning from others. Kyle

The medallions, if original .50" and in good condition would bring almost the total you paid for the gun to the right person.

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Miss My Buddy crsides!!

For $175, that's a steal. Even the $225 would have been a good price from what I can see. The trigger looks blued, so refinished, and the hammer also has an odd color, but otherwise it appears original with just moderately heavy use wear. Excellent find!

Yes, very well bought.

What was the auction site called?

Here's a pic of the medallions They number to the gun too.



Best,
Charles

Looks like the good ones to me! They can actually be re-plated by the right person too.

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Miss My Buddy crsides!!

You did very well indeed. I'd have been on that like a sixteen-year-old boy on an all-you-can-eat buffet.

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Oh well, what the hell.

You got the firearm for free. Some fellers fall into a vat of manure and come out smelling like roses. You get the whole bouquet.

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Fred
S&WCA 3238

Congrats on a very well-purchased M&P!

Most of those large medallion K-Frame stocks that I have observed were on M&Ps in the 610XXX-612XXX range. I'm guessing yours are original to that gun. I put the one set that I found (not attached to a gun) on an engraved K-22 Outdoorsman...

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Richard
Engraved S&W fan

Congrats on another interesting score. Good things happen to those who are diligent in their search as with this acquisition.

I lettered this primarily because it has the .50 inch medallion stocks that are numbered to the gun:





I wonder if the rest of the order shipped w/ the same stocks....

Best,
Charles

$19.37, probably retailed for under $30.00. All I can say is WOW!

Just to show how slowly guns were selling at that time, I have the same gun a little over 200 numbers lower that shipped over 2 years later.

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It's so odd that many of these serial number in and around here had been shipped from the late 1920s to the late 1930s.

Some with variances of approximately 10,000 to 20,000 numbers shipping near 10 years apart from each other.

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ANTIQUESMITHS
LM1300 SWHF425

Have you tried to chase down E. K. Trion company to see if they have records?
Geoff
Who has been stunned and shocked to discover what can be found donated to various college archives.

Not so odd considering the time. It was during the Great Depression, unemployment was rampant, and not many people could afford even the bare necessities of life, let alone non-essential (for most) items like guns. Sales of guns fell off the cliff, and many remained unsold in factory inventory for long time periods. It wasn't until WWII that the U. S. economy recovered.

During the 1930-39 period, I estimate that only around 75,000 M&Ps were made, say 7500/year. Compare that to around 300,000 M&Ps in the prior decade.

That's why I laugh when someone asks for a ship date and the guess's start. "According to my data base your gun should have shipped in Sept 1928". When if fact it could ship 2 or 3 years earlier or later.

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Don Mundell

I researched E.K. Tryon Co. in connection with one of my guns that lettered there in 1900. For an early history up to 1911, see my post #11 in this thread:

Letter Day for a Triple Lock

I found pages of an anniversary history and posted them there. I wasn't able to determine exactly when they went out of business, but Cornell Publications' latest reprint of a Tryon catalog is from 1958.

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I agree Don. I find it better to just say, "here are some nearby numbers that might approximate yours, BUT . . ." Then give the standard line that S&W didn't ship in serial order.

There are a very few periods when most of the stock was rolling out of the factory at a rapid pace after assembly. The immediate postwar years ('46-'48) for the M&P would be an example. But even with those there are significant fliers. So approximations can be given, but they should always be accompanied by the caveat. And letters should be recommended for those who wish to have any sort of certainty.

What I really don't get is the tendency among some to add up the SCSW numbers for a particular year, divide by a presumed "ship rate per month" and then announce a definite month during which a particular gun shipped. This makes no sense to me at all, especially in those serial sequences that were assigned to more than one model which, as you know, is pretty much the standard in the postwar years.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318