it's me! and i can't really be counted as an expert. probably very far from it! but, i will share my thoughts. first and foremost, if i was selling a model 50, i would have a factory letter in hand. no questions, no hesitation. they were very rare. being nickle, or a square butt makes them part of an even smaller group. there is just no way to be sure everything is in order without the factory documentation, especially with lots of them being unmarked as to model, some even marked MOD 36, or some marked MOD 50 (as was mine!). with no letter, the buyer is deciding what he will give for the gun "in hand", LOOKING LIKE a model 50. with the letter, you are definitely selling a factory bonafide model 50. better for the buyer, and MUCH better for you, as the seller.

with all that being said, i gave roughly $800.00 for mine, with a pretty good idea that it wouldn't letter as a 50. that ended up being an uncomfortable amount for me, as i had the opportunity to buy the gun for $500 a few weeks earlier! (i was out of state! grrrr!) (this was also dealing directly with the original owner, which was/would have been valuable to me!)

i justified the amount i paid by deciding that the gun was functionally a maxed-out, nickle, red insert/white outline, wide smooth target trigger, model 50 from the birthing nest of model 50s, whether it lettered as a 50, or whether it lettered as a 36 that had all the stuff done by the s&w custom shop.

with a lettered model 50 in near perfect/98%+ condition, as a seller, i would probably ask 1500.00 or so, and see what happened. as a buyer of a lettered model 50, i would probably be more comfortable in the 1000.00 range. they pop up in gundigest from time to time, in the 1200-1500 range. who knows if they sell? there has been a squarebutt on gunbroker for 1200.00 that has went unsold for several rounds (i assume he doesn't have a letter). i guess that kinda reinforces my idea that the letter is necessary for the big dollar exchange!

my original thought was that the earlier examples, that were unmarked, or marked MOD 36 would be the ones that should be accompanied by a letter, but after my experience, i would get the letter for ANY model 50, before i even tried to sell it.

go ahead, and be brave! get the letter! even without it, you can rest easy knowing there are pushovers like me out there who will give at least $800.00 for it!

oh, and speaking of myself, i would have definitely went $1200.00 on mine, in a heartbeat, if it had been accompanied by a factory letter. maybe more, i really wanted the little rascal!