Picked up a Chiefs Special in Nickel today and the owner told me it was made in 1967, I am not sure what year but with the Smith & Wesson 4th edition I have it does looks like that may be the date. The Serial No. is 7011xx so by the number I am not positive on the DoM. Maybe you pros can help me out on this. I sure like it though.

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beautiful Work of art!

You probably know what you have, but something about the way that finish photographs looks to me as if it may be stainless steel, not nickle. Swing out the cylinder and see if the model no. marked in the frame is 36 or 60. If it's Model 60, you're a lucky man: your gun is stainless.

This is much more durable a finish and small scuffs can be polished out by hand with metal polish.

Nickel can flake and discolor. A man named Harry Archer took both nickel and stainless S&W's to South America, where he carried them in humid jungles in his work for the CIA.

His color photos in the old, Gunfacts magazine made it very clear that stainless is the better choice for rust avoidance and preservation of the finish.

If it is nickle, I hope you know how to care for it. I've read that some solvents, inc. Hoppe's No. 9, can damage nickle.

It does look like a nice gun. And probably, I'm wrong and it is nickle. Pictures can be funny. Nickle usually has more of a yellow undertone while stainless is more bluish.

Later: Just saw the box. IF that's the original box, yeah, it's nickel. I can't read the end flap/label, but those silver boxes mean a nickle gun.

Given that the grips do not have the Diamond around the screw holes, I'd venture that the gun is 68 or 69 after those diamonds were eliminated. Nice looking gun.