A friend of mine showed me a gun he picked up a few years ago and I need a little input. Over the years, I have seen a lot of import marked Smiths but they are, almost invariably, .38 caliber models. He has a heavily proofmarked 28-2 that was imported by Century Arms. The gun looks to be unfired and only has moderate handling marks.

I have attached a pretty clear pic of the proofmarks. Does anybody have any input as to origin and provenance?

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Model 28.jpg (60.5 KB, 411 views)

Looks like Spanish proof marks.

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IMG_0193.jpg (110.0 KB, 109 views)

Agree with Shamuscull. The closest match I can find is Spanish proof marks.

By the way, C.A.I. Georgia VT is the federally-mandated importer's mark. In this case, Century Arms International. (I believe they had facilities in Georgia and Vermont. Why they spelled out one state and abbreviated the other, I have no idea.)

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You're shy a few manners.

Georgia is a city in Vermont.

But I think C.A.I. was located in St. Albans, VT. Then, because of taxes or unfriendly laws, they moved at least some operations to GA.

It's been a long time since I read about this, so not arguing...


Update:
I did some google-fu and found "The town of Georgia, Vt., is the manufacturing and warehouse hub of Century International Arms, headquartered in Florida."

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You're shy a few manners.

Is anyone aware of a sale of a quantity of these revolvers to Spain? Would this be a commercial or military / law enforcement contract?

I might simply be part of a batch that was exported for retail sale in Spain.

I know that from time to time a member here will show a S&W revolver that was sold to a military serviceman in Germany. These have German proof marks, etc. IIRC, some S&Ws were sold on the civilian market there as well.

It would not be much of a stretch to assume a similar situation existed in Spain. But a factory letter ($75) would be the only sure way to know where and when it shipped.

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You're shy a few manners.

I know this is an older thread but I have the opportunity purchase a S&W Model 28-2 with 4" barrel that has the same proof marks and Century Arms International (C.A.I) re-import marks as the OPs 28-2. Does anyone have any history on these Model 28's? Assuming it was a batch of the guns Century got their hands on and not just one offs. The one I am looking at does have about a 1" patch wear the bluing is nearly completely removed. Otherwise the gun is good condition and does not appear to have shot alot. I know the collector values is destroyed, but any input on roughly what it might be worth? Thanks

While I don't think that the import marks add to the value, they don't detract too much either. It is a shooter with curiosity value. My charge card would be out at $500. As an aside, those Europeans love those proof stamps.

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Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

With regard to post #7 above, while stationed in Germany from 1978-1980, I bought 6 S&W revolvers, a Remington rifle and a Remington 3200 shotgun through the Rod and Gun clubs in Pirmassens or Kaiserslautern and none were marked with German proofs. These guns were imported to Germany by German distributors before being sold to the R&G clubs. I later legally sold a S&W M19 and a Remington 700 to a German friend and those guns did not go through proofing either.

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Tom
1560

Whatever it looks like a nice 28-2.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065