I'm glad you came here before you made a trade on your gun. If you are like a lot of us, the first S&W we own becomes more valuable to us as time goes by. I don't have my first one, but I wish I did. If it was a 44 Special I would probably still be trying to find it and buy it back.

Stainless revolvers can be spruced up and made to look better with a little care. You'll find plenty of sound advice here on how to go about that should you decide you want to.

As for the gunshop you talked to, it sounds to me like they were shooting you a line. Any decent shop knows what that revolver was worth and that with a little work it could be cleaned up. I'd stay away from them when it comes to selling or trading guns. If I bought from them I would be well informed on the value of what I was looking for prior to checking with them.